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Dr. RAGHBIR DHAND: (1934-1990)

Born in District Sangrur (Punjab). He did his MA in History from Punjab Universiry Chandigarh before, migrating to England in early 1960s. Soon after obtaining his degree as a Graduate in Teaching from Leeds University, he started teaching in a local school. Often looked upon as pioneer among the progressive writers of the Punjabi diasporas in England, he is believed to have inspired a whole generation of writers with his ideas as well as a craftsmanship. Described by one of the writers as ‘Saraswati’s favourite son’. Young writers recall how he loved to quote Goethe’s immortal words of advise to young artists, ‘ Don’t orate, artist, create!’ Such was the power of his vision, and such the dynamism of his conviction.

In his relatively short career as a writer, he published around five collections of short stories namely Boli Dharti (Thus Spoke the Earth), “Us Paar” (Across the Shores), Kaya Kalap (The Metamorphosis), Kursi (The Chair) and Shaan-e-Ponjab (The Pride of Punjab). In 1975, his collection Us Paar was given the first prize by the Department of Languages, Punjab, while in 1987, a few years before his pre-mature death, International Punjabi sahit Sabha, Canada, bestowed the Manjit Memorial award on him.

His love of English, Urdu and Hindi literature were so intense he translated into Punjabi many English articles about the exploitation in Africa, selected short stories of Kamaleshvar and Urdu short stories of Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi. He was a favourite at any poetry gathering and would not only recite Faiz, Neruda in Punjabi but had the crowd encaptured with his anecdotes and wit. As a literary critic, he was equally acclaimed. His numerous articles of literary criticism have been published over the years in UK as well as India. In particular, he made his mark as a literary critic through his marvellous criticism of a Punjabi novel called Lahoo di Lo( The light of blood) and equally effective critical appreciation in Punjabi of Hemingway’s novel The old man and the sea.

He had been the force behind development of Punjabi literature in the foreign lands. It was unfortunate that he left us at a very early age of just 56.

He is remebered by the Punjabi Literary world by his down to earth compositions. Shane Punjab was adjudged to be best short story of 1986. Throughout his life as Marxist artist, his commitment against capitalism, colonialism,exploitation of Man by man, racism, caste Ian, apartheid, hypocrisy and religious fundamentalism was absolute and non- negotiable. The heroes and heroines in his writings are self respecting people of immense courage, of conviction who are dedicated to changing the world in a meaningful way.

A proud family man, he was survived by his wife, Parkash Dhand and his two children, Rajeev Dhand and Anjum Dhand.