47 Punjabi language writers

Ajmer Singh Aulakh was a renowned Punjabi playwright from Mansa district, Punjab. He was born in 1942 at Kishangarh Urf Pharwahi, Mansa district, Punjab, India.

Shiv Kumar Batalvi was an Indian poet, writer and playwright of the Punjabi language. He was most known for his romantic poetry, noted for its heightened passion, pathos, separation and lover's agony.

Gurbachan Singh Bhullar is a Punjabi author of short stories. In 2005, he was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award for his short story collection Agni-Kalas.

Dalbir Singh Jhand known as Punjabi writer Dalbir Chetan was a foremost short story writer of contemporary Punjabi literature. He had won awards, both regional and national, and is a widely translated author. He retired as Indian Air Force officer. Chetan's works were translated into a number of South-East Asian languages. Though not a prolific writer, he was the author of four thought-provoking short story books — Rishteyian De Aar Paar, Raat Baraate, Khara Badal and Mehndi Bazaar book's main story Mehndi Bazaar was translated and reviewed in journal South Asian Review. His book Mehndi Bazaar was translated into seven South-East Asian languages and selected in Twenty Stories from South Asia. Many of his stories were translated into Urdu, English, Hindi, Oriya, Telugu and Gujarati languages. Some of his short stories were telecast on television. He also edited an anthology "Asi Javaab Dinde Haan", which won him appreciation.

Ajeet Cour is an Indian writer who writes in Punjabi. She is a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award and the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award by the Government of India.

Darshan Buttar is an Indian poet known for his short poems in Punjabi. His work is a part of the syllabus at the Punjabi University, Patiala.

Rupinderpal Singh Dhillon or Roop Dhillon is a British Punjabi writer of fiction and poetry.

Hari Singh Dilbar was a well-known Indian Punjabi language writer and poet.

Kartar Singh Duggal was an Indian writer who wrote in Punjabi, Urdu, Hindi, and English. His works include short stories, novels, dramas and plays. His works have been translated into Indian and foreign languages. He has served as Director, All India Radio.

Khwaja Ghulam Farid or Khwaja Fareed (1845–1901) was a 19th-century Sufi poet of Punjab. He was a member of the Chishti Nizami Sufi order. He wrote poetry in several languages and his literary heritage has been claimed by both the Punjabi and the Saraiki language movements.

Balwant Gargi was an Indian Punjabi language dramatist, theatre director, novelist, and short story writer, and academic.

Kapur Singh Ghuman was a Punjabi writer and theatre actor born in a Jat Sikh family. He was awarded a Sahitya Academy Award in 1984 for his Punjabi play Pagal Lok. He was director of the Punjab Languages Department. He was born in 1927 and died in a car accident in 1986.

Pratap Singh Giani was a Sikh academician, scholar and calligraphist.

Gurdas Ram Alam (1912–1989), was a Punjabi language poet born in Bundala village of Jalandhar, Punjab. He was a progressive poet and an activist poet from a marginalized part of the society known as Dalits, and he is known as the first Punjabi Dalit poet. He was from a working-class family and lived in small mud house in village. Alam did not go to school, he learned reading and writing Gurmukhi from his friends. Being a working-class child he started working at a very young age, and he also started writing poems from his childhood. His first source of inspiration for getting into writing was oppression by the rich on the poor people that he experienced while working as child labor. Despite being illiterate, he emerged as a popular name in Punjabi folk poetry before the partition of India. Alam is recognised as a Dalit activist poet and the voice of deprived, oppressed castes and communities.

Jagtar was a Punjabi poet. He was widely credited for being a stickler for meter and rhyme. He was very popular among the politically conscious Punjabi readers having left-wing leanings. In the early period of his popularity he was known by his pen name Jagtar “Papiha” which he later dropped.

Jaswant Singh Kanwal was an Indian novelist, short story writer and essayist of the Punjabi language. He was born in the village of Dhudike, Moga District, Punjab, India. As a young teenager he left school and went to Malaya. It was there that he first got interested in literature. He returned to Dhudike after a few years and has lived there ever since. He was awarded the Punjabi Sahit Shiromani Award in the year 2007.

Sardar Mohammad Khan, also known as "SMK", was a Pakistani researcher of linguistics.

Mitter Sain Meet is a Punjabi novelist.

Narendra Mohan is an eminent Hindi Author, Poet, Playwright, Professor and a Visionary!

Giani Gurmukh Singh Musafir was an Indian politician and Punjabi language writer. He was the Chief Minister of Punjab from 1 November 1966 to 8 March 1967.

Sardar Bahadur Sir Arur Singh of Nowhera, was a former Sarbrah of Akal Takht. He was in office from 1865-1926.

Professor Dr Rana Nayar is a translator of poetry and short fiction from Punjabi to English. He has more than forty volumes of poetry and translation works to his credit. He is also a theatre artist and has participated in a number of major full-length productions. He won Sahitya Akademi Golden Jubilee prize for his English translation of the Punjabi devotional poetry of Saint Baba Farid.

Jaswant Singh Neki was a leading Indian Sikh scholar, significant neo-metaphysical Punjabi language poet and former Director of PGI Chandigarh and Head of the Psychiatry Department at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi.

Balraj Pandit was a well-known Hindi and Punjabi playwright besides being a theatre director, poet, painter and a popular teacher. His Paanchwan Sawaar is considered a classic and a significant play of Indian dramaturgy. The play has been staged many times by different theatre troupes with actors like Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri and Manohar Singh among other playing roles. Lok Udaasi in Punjabi was another of his well-known plays besides Biwiyon Ka Madrasa an adaptation of Molière's L'École des Femmes.

Amrita Pritam was an Indian novelist, essayist and poet, who wrote in Punjabi and Hindi. She is considered the first prominent female Punjabi poet, novelist, essayist and the leading 20th-century poet of the Punjabi language, who is equally loved on both sides of the India–Pakistan border. With a career spanning over six decades, she produced over 100 books of poetry, fiction, biographies, essays, a collection of Punjabi folk songs and an autobiography that were all translated into several Indian and foreign languages.

Bano Qudsia, also known as Bano Aapa, was a Pakistani novelist, playwright and spiritualist. She wrote literature in Urdu, producing novels, dramas plays and short stories. Qudsia is best recognized for her novel Raja Gidh. Qudsia also wrote for television and stage in both Urdu and Punjabi languages. Her play Aadhi Baat has been called "a classic play". Bano Qudsia died in Lahore on 4 February 2017.

Jaswant Singh Rahi was a Punjabi poet, writer, communist and freedom fighter. He was born in and lived his whole life in Dera Baba Nanak town of Gurdaspur district of Punjab, India. Columnist Joginder Singh Bedi stated, "Born in the holy town of Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district, the Sahit Shiromani Poet Jaswant Singh Rahi's contribution to Punjabi world of letters is no less than that of Dhani Ram Chatrik, Prof Mohan Singh (poet) and Prof Puran Singh. Rahi is popularly known for his slogan Jai Mitarta."

Balraj Sahni was an Indian film and stage actor, who is best known for Dharti Ke Lal (1946), Do Bigha Zameen (1953), Chhoti Bahen (1959), Kabuliwala (1961) and Garam Hawa (1973). He was the brother of Bhisham Sahni, noted Hindi writer, playwright, and actor.

Navtej Singh Sarna is an Indian author-columnist, diplomat and former Indian Ambassador to the United States. He previously served as the High Commissioner of India to the United Kingdom, and the Ambassador to Israel.

Sant Singh Sekhon (1908–1997) was an Indian playwright and fiction writer associated with Punjabi literature. He is part of the generation of Indian authors who mark the transition of India into an independent nation, scarred by the tragedies of partition.

Baldev Singh, also known as Baldev Singh Sadaknaama, is an Indian novelist and story writer in Punjabi-language. He received the Sahitya Akademi Award 2011 for his novel Dhahwan Dilli De Kingre. As of 2012, he has written 55 novels and various short stories and plays.

Gurbaksh Singh (1895–1977) was an Indian novelist and short story writer with more than fifty books to his credit in Punjabi. He is also considered the father of modern Punjabi prose and received Sahitya Akademi Fellowship, New Delhi in 1971.

Dr. Harcharan Singh (1914–2006) was an Indian dramatist and writer in the Punjabi language. He dedicated 69 years of his life to Punjabi theater, in which he authored 51 books and staged numerous plays all over the world.

Dr. Jaswinder Singh is an Indian Punjabi novelist.

Nanak Singh,, was an Indian poet, songwriter, and novelist of the Punjabi language. His literary works in support of India's independence movement led the British to arrest him. He published novels that won him literary acclaim.

Giani Partap Singh was a Sikh priest and Panjabi writer. He served as the first acting Jathedar of Akal Takht from 19 December 1937 to 1948 and 19th Jathedar of Akal Takht from 1952 to 15 February 1955.

Pandit Tara Singh Narotam (1822–1891) or also Pundit Tara Singh Nawtam was a famous Punjabi scholar who belonged to the Sikh Nirmala Sect. He made many contributions to Sikh theology and Sikh literature, he discovered Hemkunt, and he became the Sri Mahant (head) of the Nirmal Pachchayati Akhara at Kankhal.

Amarjeet Sohi is an Indian-born Canadian politician currently serving as the mayor of Edmonton. Sohi previously sat as a Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for the riding of Edmonton Mill Woods in the House of Commons from his 2015 election until his defeat in the 2019 election. During that time, he served as Minister of Natural Resources from 2018 to 2019 and Minister of Infrastructure and Communities from 2015 to 2018.

Karnail Singh Somal is a well known Punjabi prose-writer. He is recipient of the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award.

Sukhbir, alias Balbir Singh, was a Punjabi novelist, short-story writer, poet and essayist. He wrote and published for fifty years. He wrote seven novels, 11 short story collections, and five poetry collections, and made many translations of world literature, essays, letters and book reviews.

Najm Hosain Syed is a Pakistani writer. He has written poetry and plays in the Punjabi language as well as literary criticism on Punjabi literature in his Recurrent Patterns in Punjabi Poetry (1968).

Ghulam Mustafa Tabassum, was a 20th-century poet. His pen name was Tabassum.

Afzal Tauseef, also spelled Afzal Tausif, was a Pakistani Punjabi language writer, columnist and journalist.

Dalip Kaur Tiwana was a novelist and short-story writer of contemporary Punjabi literature. She won awards, both regional and national, and was a widely translated author. She retired as Professor of Punjabi, and Dean, Faculty of Languages, from Punjabi University, Patiala.

Vir Singh was an Indian poet, scholar, and theologian of the Sikh revival movement, playing an important part in the renewal of Punjabi literary tradition. Singh's contributions were so important and influential that he became canonized as Bhai, an honorific often given to those whom could be considered a saint of the Sikh faith.

Mir Tanha Yousufi was a Pakistani Punjabi and Urdu writer, best known for his Punjabi literature. He produced two short story collections and five novels in Punjabi. Most of his work was transliterated in Gurumukhi script in Indian Punjab. Besides his Punjabi works, he was a well known Urdu and Punjabi poet.

Fakhar Zaman was the chairman of the Pakistan Academy of Letters from 11 May 2008 to 12 March 2012, when Abdul Hameed replaced him as the next appointed chairman of the body. A leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the chairman of the World Punjabi Congress, he has also been playing a notable role in politics to achieve his sociopolitical ideals.