Indian author and poet Amrita Pritam is renowned for her contributions to Punjabi literature. For her masterpiece, Ajj Aakhaan Waris Shah Nu (Today I Invoke Waris Shah), she was the first woman to win the Sahitya Akademi Award.
A lot of the writing she did was influenced by those experiences. In Punjabi and Hindi, she authored more than 100 publications, including novels, anthologies of poetry, and essays.
Pritam was recognised for her fervent feminism and frequently wrote on the lives of women. Her writings addressed issues like love, loss, and the search for one's identity in a rapidly evolving society. She was a prolific author who created works in a variety of genres and styles, from political articles to lyric poetry.
Pritam also won the Padma Shri and Padma Vibhushan, two of India's highest civilian honours, for her efforts in addition to the Sahitya Akademi Award. In 1984, she was also a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
