Renowned poet, novelist and short-story writer, Amrita Pritam, 86, died at New Delhi on Monday 31 October 2005 at her Hauz Khas residence after a prolonged illness. She won the country's highest literature award - the Jnanpith award in 1981. She was the first woman to receive the Sahitya Akademi award for Punjabi. She was the first Punjabi woman to be awarded a Padma Shri in 1969. In 2004 she received the Padma Vibushan. This Punjabi writer and poet was also a Rajya Sabha member.
Born in the western part of Punjab, presently in Pakistan, in 1919 to a Sikh family, Amrita started her writing career at the age of 16. Her first collection of Punjabi poems was published in 1935. In 1947, at the time of the Partition, she moved to New Delhi, which she made her second home. She began to write in Hindi as opposed to Punjabi, her mother tongue. She worked until 1961 for All India Radio. She divorced her husband Pritam Singh in 1960 and dedicated her later part of life to writing.
Amrita Pritam's institutional influence on Punjabi literature has been laudable. She is a household name in Punjab, being its most prominent woman Punjabi poet and fiction writer. She received three D Litt. Degrees. In spite of her poor health, she was active till the end, writing and editing a monthly magazine in Punjabi, Nagmani. President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam honoured her with Padma awards for her contribution to literature. She was not present at the ceremony.
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