Kulwant Singh Virk

Kulwant Singh Virk is an eminent short-story writer, whose stories are fast-moving, well-trimmed and modern. His portrayal of the rural society of central Punjab is gripping with intellectual, rational and psychological approach. He has been able to delineate realistically men in the services with an urban middle class background besides character drawn from various starta of society.

Born in the village of Phularwan (now part of Pakistan), he received his Master's degree in English from Khalsa College, Amritsar in 1940. He joined the army in 1942, serving as a Liaison Officer during the partition. Later, he edited the journal Jagriti (in Panjabi) and Advance (in English).

He also worked as the Director, of the Communication Centre, at the Agriculture University of Ludhiana. Known for his psychological but realistic portrayal of characters, he selects some common incident of life and then, by virtue of his intellectual acumen, renders it into a story. His Chah Vela (Breakfast time, 1950), Dharti te akash (Earth and the sky, 1951), Tudi di pand (A bundle of straws, 1952), Ekas ke ham barrack (Children of the Lord, 1955), Dudh da chapped (A pool of milk, 1961), Golhw (The figs, 1961) and Naven look (New people, 1967) reveal different facets of peasantry and their changing milieu because of (changes or lack of changes) in education and economic development.

His stories are epiphanies of life. The characters of his stories are loved and sympathised with by the reader notwithstanding their drawbacks and defeats in life. With a few subtle touches, he paints the inner conflict of his characters, ana men does not bother to 'round-up' the tale.

Honoured as an eminent writer by the Department of Languages in 1959, his collection of short-stories, Naven look, earned him the Sahitya Akademi Award for 1969. His work was also awarded by the Punjab Arts Council in 1981.

At times, he lets his thoughts pass through the prism of Marxist ideology and tailors some of his stories accordingly. Nevertheless, he has added some new thematic and expressional dimensions to the Punjabi short-story form. He has explored the susceptibility and latent energies of this genre, giving his stories a sense of the complexities of modern life.