Amrita Pritam was an Indian novelist, essayist and poet, who wrote in Punjabi and Hindi.
18 Facts About Amrita Pritam
2.
Amrita Pritam later received the Bharatiya Jnanpith, one of India's highest literary awards, in 1982 for Kagaz Te Canvas.
3.
Amrita Pritam was born as Amrit Kaur in 1919 in Gujranwala, Punjab, in British India, 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.
4.
Amrita Pritam was involved in social work to a certain extent and participated in such activities wholeheartedly, after Independence when social activist Guru Radha Kishan took the initiative to bring the first Janta Library in Delhi, which was inaugurated by Balraj Sahni and Aruna Asaf Ali and contributed to the occasion accordingly.
5.
Amrita Pritam worked at a radio station in Lahore for a while, before the partition of India.
6.
Amrita Pritam worked until 1961 in the Punjabi service of All India Radio, Delhi.
7.
Amrita Pritam edited Nagmani, a monthly literary magazine in Punjabi for several years, which she ran together with Imroz, for 33 years; though after Partition she wrote prolifically in Hindi as well.
8.
Amrita Pritam had published autobiographies, titled, Kala Gulab, Rasidi Ticket, and Aksharon kay Saayee.
9.
Amrita Pritam was the first recipient of Punjab Rattan Award conferred upon her by Punjab Chief Minister Capt.
10.
Amrita Pritam was the first female recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1956 for Sunehadey, Amrita Pritam received the Bhartiya Jnanpith Award, India's highest literary award, in 1982 for Kagaj te Canvas.
11.
Amrita Pritam received the Padma Shri and Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award, and Sahitya Akademi Fellowship, India's highest literary award, in 2004.
12.
Amrita Pritam received the international Vaptsarov Award from the Republic of Bulgaria and Degree of Officer dens, Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government.
13.
In 1935, Amrita married Pritam Singh, son of a hosiery merchant of Lahore's Anarkali bazaar.
14.
Amrita Pritam is said to have had an unrequited affection for poet Sahir Ludhianvi.
15.
Amrita Pritam spent the last forty years of her life with Imroz, who designed most of her book covers and made her the subject of his several paintings.
16.
Amrita Pritam died in her sleep on 31 October 2005 at the age of 86 in New Delhi, after a long illness.
17.
Amrita Pritam was survived by her partner Imroz, daughter Kandlla, son Navraj Kwatra, daughter-in-law Alka, and her grandchildren, Kartik, Noor, Aman and Shilpi.
18.
In 2007, an audio album titled, 'Amrita recited by Gulzar' was released by noted lyricist Gulzar, with poems of Amrita Pritam recited by him.