Sahitya Akademi award winner and an eminent Punjab writer, Professor Niranjan Singh Tasneem passed away aged 91, at his residence in Ludhiana’s Vishal Nagar on Saturday.
Confirming the news, Tasneem’s son Gurinderjit Singh Puri said that his father was bed-ridden for almost a year now. “He was suffering from old-age related ailments and was confined to bed. The cremation will take place on Sunday at Model Town Extension cremation ground.
Born in Amritsar on May 1, 1929, Tasneem had served as a professor at SCD Government College, Ludhiana. Tasneem had received Bhartiya Sahitya Akademi award in 1999 for his novel ‘Gwache Arth’ and Punjabi Sahit Rattan Award in 2015.
He started writing in Punjabi at the age of 35 and has been contributing to Punjabi literature for the past 51 years. Prior to writing in Punjabi, he used to write in English and Urdu. He has also written 12 books in English and two Urdu novels.
But his true calling was for Punjabi. He has written 10 novels, 10 literary books in Punjabi. ‘Ik Hor Nawan Saal’, ‘Jadon Saver Hoi’, ‘Ret Chhal’, ‘Talaash Koi Sadeevi’, ‘Hanera Hon Tak’, ‘Parchhawein’ and ‘Gwache Arth’ were some of the Punjabi novels penned by him
