Prof Kazak to be honored with Lifetime Achievement Award

JS Gandam
India Post News Service

PHAGWARA: Punjabi Virsa Trust (Regt.) Phagwara, decided to honor with Life Time Achievement Award, Prof. Kirpal Kazak, an eminent Punjabi writer, a folklore researcher, an authority on Indian tribes and a Sahitya Akademi awardee. The decision was taken at the Trust’s meeting presided over by Prof Jaswant Singh Gandam.

Giving details, Trust’s General Secretary Gurmit Palahi disclosed the Award carries cash award of Rs 31,000, a citation, a trophy and a shawl He stated, Prof Kazak was selected for his stellar contribution to Punjabi literature, his outstanding study of 19-tribes of the country and his huge research work in his reference book Punjabi Sabhyachar Shabdawali Kosh.

The award will be presented at a function to be held later this year. Prof Kazak has penned over 24-books in Punjabi, while Punjabi University Patiala has published over 12-research books. He has also written books for children. 

His collection of short stories book  ‘Antheen’ won the Sahitya Akademi Award. Beginning his life in poverty, as a mason, the 79-year Kazak retired as a Professor from Punjabi University a few years ago. 

Earlier, in his presidential address after releasing a new novel of Raghbir Mann,Prof Kirpal Kazak said, a novel is a ‘sabhyacharak dastevez’ (cultural document). He said that it presented a panoramic view of society and culture.

Maintaining that poetry, short story and novel, were three different forms of literature; Prof Kazak differentiated the three genresbeautifully and said,”Poetry administers you a gentle pinch, story grasps your wrist, while novel takes you in an encompassing embrace.”