Surjit Patar

Biography

Patar hailed from the village of Pattar Kalan in Jalandhar district from which he got his surname. His father's name was Harbhajan Singh and mother's Harbhajan Kaur. He had four older sisters. His father had migrated to Kenya for work and would only return home for short time after every five years. He matriculated from a nearby village school. After that admitted in as science student in a college in Kapurthala. But the next year, he took up Arts.

Patar graduated from Randhir College, Kapurthala and then went on to get a 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. and poems of Bertolt Brecht and Pablo Neruda. He wrote television scripts on Punjabi poets from Sheikh Farid to Shiv Kumar Batalvi.

Patar was president of the Punjab Arts Council, Chandigarh. Earlier, he had held the office of the President, Punjabi Sahit Akademi, Ludhiana. He was awarded Padma Shri in 2012.

Death Patar died of cardiac arrest at his residence on Barewal Road in Ludhiana, on 11 May 2024, at the age of 79. According to his family members, he did not wake up that morning and was declared dead after arriving in the hospital.

Works Among Patar's works are "Candles", "Hanere Vich Sulagdi Varanmala", "Aiya Nand Kishore",

Filmography Surjit Patar wrote dialogues for the Punjabi films Shaheed Uddham Singh and Videsh, the Punjabi version of Deepa Mehta's film Heaven on Earth.

Awards

1979: Punjab Sahitya Akademi Award 1993: Sahitya Akademi Award for Hanere Vich Sulghdi Varnmala 2007–2008: Anad Kav Sanman 2009: Saraswati Samman by K.K.Birla foundation. 2009: Gangadhar National Award for Poetry, Sambalpur University, Orissa 2012: Padma Shri Award in the field of Literature and Education (fourth highest civilian award in the Republic of India) 2014: Kusumagraj Literary Award