Surjit Patar


Surjit Patar is a Punjabi language writer and poet of Punjab, India. His poems enjoy immense popularity with the general public and have won high acclaim from critics.

Biography

Patar hails from village Pattar Kalan in Jalandhar district from where he got his surname. He did his graduation from Randhir College, Kapurthala and then went on to do Master's degree from Punjabi University, Patiala and then a PhD in Literature on "Transformation of Folklore in Guru Nanak Vani" from Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. He then joined the academic profession and retired as Professor of Punjabi from Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. He started writing poetry in mid-sixties. Among his works of poetry are "Hawa Vich Likhe Harf", Birkh Arz Kare, Hanere Vich Sulagdi Varnmala, Lafzaan Di Dargah, Patjhar Di Pazeb and Surzameen.
He has translated into Punjabi the three tragedies of Federico García Lorca, the play Nagmandala of Girish Karnad, and poems of Bertolt Brecht and Pablo Neruda. He has also adapted plays from Jean Giradoux, Euripides and Racine. He has written tele-scripts on Punjabi poets from Sheikh Farid to Shiv Kumar Batalvi.
He is the president of Punjab Arts Council, Chandigarh. In the past, he has held the office of the President, Punjabi Sahit Akademi, Ludhiana. He was awarded Padma Shri in 2012.

Well known poems

"Candles", "Hanere vich sulagdi Varanmala", "Aiya Nand Kishore", "Hanera Jarega Kiven" and others.

Filmography

Surjit Patar has written dialogues of the Punjabi movie Shaheed Uddham Singh and Videsh, the Punjabi version of Deepa Mehta's movie Heaven on Earth.

Awards