British Punjabi Writers

Over the twentieth century many communities have immigrated to the UK, amongst them Punjabis from India and Pakistan. Many have brought their literary talents with them. Some have taken to writing in English, whilst others have hung on to their original language. These writers have absorbed what they have seen in England and reflected this in their Punjabi Novels and Poetry. Amongst these great writers are Amarjit Chandan, Harjeet Atwal,Veena Verma (Mul Dee Teween) and Shivcharan Gill. Others include Sathi Ludhianvi, K.C.Mohan, S.S.Santokh and Yash. In addition to these imigres a new set of British born writers is emerging. This includes Dominic Rai, Rupinderpal Singh Dhillon and Daljit Nagra.

Prominent British Punjabi Writers

Amarjit Chandan

The most prominent writer is Amarjit Chandan.

He was born in Nairobi in November 1946. After graduating from Panjab University in India, he joined the Maoist Naxalite movement, and subsequently spent two years in solitary confinement. Later he worked for various Punjabi literary and political magazines, including the Bombay-based Economic and Political Weekly before migrating to England in 1980, where he lives with his radio-broadcaster wife and two sons.

He has published eight collections of poetry and two books of essays in Punjabi in the Gurmukhi script and two in the Persian script in Lahore and one in English translation titled Being Here.

He has edited many anthologies of world poetry and fiction, including two collections of so-called British Punjabi poetry and short stories. His work is included in many anthologies in Punjabi, Hindi and English published in India and abroad. His poetry has been published in Greek, Turkish, Hungarian and Romanian and Indian languages. He has participated in many poetry readings in England, Hungary and at Columbia University. He has translated work by, among others, Brecht, Neruda, Ritsos, Hikmet and Cardenal into Punjabi.

He worked as a creative writer with the Punjab Drama Repertory Co., Chandigarh in the late 1970s and adapted Brecht's play The Caucasian Chalk Circle and Tagore's Mukatdhara in Punjabi. He was awarded Young Writer Fellowship by the Lalit Kala [Fine Arts] Akademi, India in 1980.

He is currently working on a Punjabi translation of Cervantes Don Quixote. His own works include Jarhan, Beejak, Chhanna, and Guthali. He is a regular contributor to apnaorg.com and Sanjh magazine.

Rupinderpal Singh Dhillon

A rising star is Rupinderpal Singh Dhillon who has written Neela Noor, a Punjabi novel from an English perspective. Rupinderpal Singh Dhillon ( born in 1969-) is the first British Born English-Punjabi to write in the Punjabi language. He uses Gurumukhi script to write Panjabi Poems, Short Stories and Novels. He is the first to have a Punjabi Novel written in Diaspora Punjabi published in the west, specifically aimed at the UK GCSE Market. The idea was to write a Punjabi story that western born Punjabis could relate to. This novel is Nila Noor, the first of its kind.

Rupinder Dhillon has also written English poems, published in local Poetry Magazines, and Annexation, a novel about the Maharaja of Punjab, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, just prior to Annexation by the British. He is a secular writer who has trancsended the Radcliffe Line, and created Characters both from India and Pakistan as well as Europe.He was interviewed by Desi Radio at the beginning of February 2006. The most interesting thing about this interview was how a primarily English speaking and writing individual taught himself Punjabi at home, and within a couple of years was able to write in it. He is not a Punjabi activist or affiliated to any political or social group that may have such interests. ALthough like most Punjabis, it saddens him the original Punjab was partitioned, he believes only in promoting harmony amongst the two punjabs re literature. He holds no political agenda. For that reason he has not participated in any groups. He is presently trying to inform the world about his novels published under the Khushjeevan Kitabaan brand name by Exposure Publishing. He also is hoping to create an association for young British born Punjabi writers which is non political in nature to assist in showing their writing. This is proposed as the Punjabi Writers klub, or PWK. He is good friends with British Punjabi singer Amarjeet ( Rana) Bolla.

Rupinderpal was born in West London, and brought up in Southall and Hounslow. Later on he moved to Buckinghamshire, where he began writing voraciously in English. He then changed direction and studied at Oxford Brookes University and DeMontfort, obtaining a Management Degree and a Masters in Design and Manufacture. He then pursued a career in Accounting. During this time he was married and began Annexation ( published on the net for free by Sikhspectrum), a path which led him to be interested in his Punjabi heritage, finally resulting in Nila Noor.He is currently working on the world's first Punjabi Science Fiction novel, The Hornet ( Bharind) which he hopes to release within the next two years. The Khushjeevan Label will take on budding British and Canadian born and bred Punjabi writers only. Note that it is vanity press.

Harjeet Atwal

Harjeet Singh Atwal is a famous Punjabi writer who has written many books in India. He has won two major awards in 1996 and 2004 for his book called Ret. He is currently working on a book called Southall which is about an Indian's daily life in Southall as an immigrant from India, no further details about the novel has been published. He now lives in England, Southall where he is married and has three children. He has written two novels, a poem and six short stories. Harjeet Atwal was born in 8th September 1952 and lived in Pharala, a village in the Doaba region in Punjab. He grew up, as well as raising three younger sisters and one younger brother. During his youth, his parents had been extremely supportive of his education, making his the center-point of what would stabilize their family. He attained a Law degree at UP Meeru University, soon after, keeping his career intact until he had moved to England, in 1977

All three of these writers represent wildly different schools of thought. Atwal is a traditional Punjabi writer well known in East Punjab. Chandan experiments with the language and has a more international approach. Some don't understand his work, but he too is firmly established now in a traditional Punjabi upbringing. He is equally well known in West Punjab. Of the three, Dhillon represents a totally new breed. His style is very angolised reflecting his upbringing in the west. In some eyes this has meant his Punjabi is not " Proper". However it is true reflection of the way English bred second generation Punjabis use it. But it is not only his grammar that irks traditionalists. His writing can be heavy and surreal, and hard to comprehend by those use to stories about village life. He is urban and better known in the Greater Punjab ( Europe and America) then in the east.

References

*http://www.punjabielm.co.uk/British%20Punjabi%20Writers.htm
*http://www.apnaorg.com/poetry/chandan/
*http://www.man-mela.dircon.co.uk/writerscontent.html
*http://www.apnaorg.com/articles/nila/
*http://www.apnaorg.com/articles/roop/
*http://www.apnaorg.com/publish-on-apna/roop/index.html
*http://sikh-heritage.co.uk/writers/new%20writers/new%20writers.html