Amrita Pritam

Amrita Pritam (31 August 1919 – 31 October 2005) was an Indian novelist and poet, who wrote in Punjabi and Hindi.^[1] She is the recipient of the 1956 Sahitya Akademi Award. She wrote more than 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.^[2][3]

Amrita Pritam
Pritam c. 1948
Born	Amrita Kaur (1919-08-31)31 August 1919 Gujranwala, Punjab Province, British India (now Punjab, Pakistan)
Died	31 October 2005(2005-10-31) (aged 86) Delhi, India
Occupation	Novelist, poet
Nationality	Indian
Period	1936–2005
Genre	poetry, prose, autobiography
Subject	Partition of India, Women, Dream
Literary movement	Romantic-Progressivism
Spouse	Pritam Singh
Partner	Imroz
Children	2

Biography

Pritam was born on August 31, 1919, in Gujranwala, Punjab, British India.^[4] She was the only child of Raj Bibi, who was a school teacher, and Kartar Singh Hitkari, who was a poet, a scholar of the Braj Bhasha language, and the editor of a literary journal.^[5][6]

She was known for her powerful and emotional poetry that often portrayed the struggles of women and the partition of India. Her writing continues to inspire generations of readers with its themes of love, loss, and social injustice.

She started her journey as a romantic poet^[7] and soon became part of the Progressive Writers' Movement. The effect was seen in her collection, Lok Peed ("People's Anguish", 1944), which openly criticised the war-torn economy after the Bengal famine of 1943. She was also involved in social work.

She also worked at a radio station in Lahore for a while, before the partition of India.^[8]

Death

She passed away on October 31, 2005 after a long sickness but her legacy lives on through her timeless words.^[9]