Jaswant Singh Kanwal is a novelist, short story writer and essayist of the Punjabi language. He was born in the village of Dhudike, Moga District, Punjab, India.[1] and has lived there ever since. He was awarded the Punjabi Sahit Shiromani Award[2] in the year 2007.
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He has published several books. His novels usually have a rustic feel and depict the rural life of Punjab very vividly. His writings generally question firmly held social customs and beliefs. He has left leanings and many of his most popular novels champion the cause of socially relevant issues like social and gender equality. He is also known to take tough political stands in his newspaper essays. Later on he became a supporter of Khalistan movement.
His most notable novel is Lahoo Di Lo (Dawn of the Blood).[3] This novel is based on the Naxalite movement in Punjab. It was very controversial during the infamous Emergency days of the 1970s and none of the publishers was willing to publish it. Jaswant Singh Kanwal had it published in Singapore and smuggled copies of the novel to India. Only after the emergency was lifted, the novel was published in Punjab. This book has been translated into English.
Jaswant Singh Kanwal was awarded Sahitya Akademi Fellowship for his 1996 book Pakhi (Hand Fan) (Short stories). He received the Sahitya Academy award for Taushali Di Hanso (Novel)[4] in 1998.
Jaswant Singh Kanwal was conferred upon the degree of Doctor of Literature (Honoris Causa) by Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar in 2008 [5] for his contribution to Punjabi literatute[6]