Kartar Singh Duggal


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 of the All India Radio.
He was awarded the Padma Bhushan by Government of India in 1988. In 2007, he was awarded the List of [Sahitya Akademi fellows|Sahitya Akademi Fellowship], the highest honour given by Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters.

Early life and education

He was born in Dhamyal, Rawalpindi District, to Mr Jiwan Singh Duggal and Mrs Satwant Kaur. He was married to Ayesha Duggal, a medical doctor. He received his M.A. Honours in English at Forman Christian College, Lahore.

Career

Duggal started his professional career with All India Radio. He worked there from 1942 to 1966 in various jobs including Station Director. For the AIR, he wrote and produced programmes in Punjabi and other languages. In addition, he authored a large number of plays and dramas. He was the Secretary/Director, National Book Trust, India from 1966 to 1973. From 1973 to 1976, he served as an Information Advisor at the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
He has founded many institutions, including:
Duggal had been a member of many literary and cultural centres including being the President of Punjabi Sahitya Sabha, Delhi. He was nominated Fellow of the Punjabi University in 1984. He was also honoured with a nomination to the Rajya Sabha in August 1997.
He died on 26 January 2012 after a brief illness.

Work

Duggal has authored twenty-four collections of short stories, ten novels, seven plays, seven works of literary criticism, two poetry collections and an autobiography. Many of his books have been adopted by various universities for graduate studies. Among his works are:

Short stories

  • Birth of a Song
  • Come Back My Master
  • Dangar
  • Ikk Chhit Chananh Di
  • Swere Sar
  • Pipal Patea
  • Nawan Ghar
  • Sonar Bangla
  • Tarkalan Vele
  • Jeenat Aapa
  • ''A Room 10'x 8'''

Poetry

  • Veehveen Sadi te Hor Kavitaavaan
  • ''Kandhe Kandhe''

Novels

  • Sarad Poonam Ki Raat
  • Tere Bhanhe
  • Nails and flesh
  • Man Pardesi
  • ''Ab Na Bassoon ih gaon''

Other works

Awards

Kartar Singh Duggal has been bestowed by many awards throughout his career, including:
He is well travelled. He has visited Bulgaria, North Korea, Russia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, the UK and the U.S. He resided in New Delhi after retirement and spent his time reading.
The Library of Congress has 118 of his works.