Gurbaksh Singh

Gurbaksh Singh Biography

Gurbaksh Singh Preetlari, shortly called Gurbaksh Singh was an eminent Punjabi writer who has published over 50 books. He is often referred to as ‘Father of Modern Punjabi Prose’. He contributed to Punjabi literature mostly in the form of novels and short story collections, apart from other forms of writings. He was a Civil Engineer by educational qualification, worked as an engineer too and established Preet Nagar Township, equidistant between Amritsar and Lahore. Gurbaksh Singh Preetlari Award – is named after him. He started the multi-lingual magazine Preet Lari in 1933, which is successfully run by next generation.

Gurbaksh Singh Preetlari was born in Punjab in 1895. He completed engineering from IIT Roorkee, then known by the name Thomson Engineering College. He also studied Civil Engineering at University of Michigan, US. He founded the journal – Preetlari in 1933, before he started with the Preet Nagar Township, which took 5 years to complete. A Shanti Niketan of Punjab then, Preetnagar has been associated with artists and celebrities belonging to different sectors of Indian arts and literal world. But it suffered a lot at the time of India's partition, as it was in India-Pakistan border. It was cut off at Lahore and reduced to a border village in the Indian part of Punjab. 'Gurbaksh Singh Nanak Singh Foundation' was set up in the township in the mid-1990s to restart cultural activities once again. Punjabi plays from both India and Pakistan have been staged here for the past 10 years or so during such events.

He started a journal Preetlari in 1933 which was a big success and later he became popular Gurbaksh Singh Preet Lari, suffixing the journal’s name to him by admirers. However he never used this suffix. During its peak time it published in Punjabi, English, Urdu and Hindi languages. From 1950s, his son Navtej Singh also joined him as a co-editor, and remained with Preetlari till his death in 1981. Gurbaksh Singh died in 1977. After the death of Navtej, Gurbaksh’s son his son Sumit Singh and his wife Poonam ran the magazine for some time until he was killed by Sikh fundamentalists. Sumit Singh was barely 30 then. Now the magazine is successfully run by Rati Kant Singh and Poonam - Sumit’s wife, who later married Rati Kant.

Published: N/A

Updated: January 28, 2016