Manto

Sahni; Bhisham

Singh; Khushwant

Khushwant Singh was born in 1915 in Hadali, Punjab. Today he is
India’s best-known columnist and journalist. Among the works he
has published are a classic two-volume history of the Sikhs, several
novels (the best known of which are Delhi, Train to Pakistan and
The Company of Women) and a number of translated works and
non-fiction books on Delhi, nature and current affairs. His
autobiography, Truth, Love and a Little Malice was published in
2002.

Bhisham Sahni was born in 1915 in Rawalpindi (now in Pakistan).
His first collection of short stories, Bhagya Rekha (Line of Fate)
was published in 1953. Since then he has published five novels,
eight collections of short stories, three plays and a biography of his
late brother, the actor and writer Balraj Sahni. Many of his books
have been translated into various languages. His most famous novel,
Tamas, was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1975.

Saadat Hasan Manto widely regarded as the world’s greatest short
story writer in Urdu was born on 11 May 1912 at Samrala in
Punjab’s Ludhiana district. In a literary, journalistic, radio-scripting
and film-writing career spread over more than two decades, he
produced around 250 stories, scores of plays and a large number
of essays, many of them, controversial. He was tried for obscenity
half a dozen times, thrice before and thrice after Independence. Two
of his greatest stories—‘Colder than Ice’ and ‘The Return’—were
among works considered ‘obscene’ by the Pakistani censors. He
also wrote over a dozen films, including Eight Days, Chal Chal Re
Naujawan and Mirza Ghalib. The last one was shot after Manto
moved to Pakistan in January 1948. Manto’s greatest work was
produced in the last seven years of his life, a time of great financial
and emotional hardship for him. He died several months short of
his forty-third birthday in January 1955 in Lahore.