Ajeet Caur
Ajeet Cour, well-known Punjabi fiction writer, is the spirit behind the Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature, and Academy of Fine Arts and Literature. A visionary who launched, for the first time, the idea of cultural connectivity for peace in the SAARC region, way back in 1986, she has been working tirelessly since then, for these Track II initiatives, resulting in the inclusion of ‘culture’ in the SAARC Charter and FOSWAL honoured as ‘SAARC APEX BODY’. She is author of 19 collections of short stories, novelettes and novels, 9 creative translations of fiction and poetry, over 20 edited works, and numerous articles as an Accredited Journalist. She writes in Punjabi, but is widely translated into several Indian and foreign languages. Ajeet Cour’s forte lies in the passion and commitment she brings to bear on everything she takes up-from creative writing to cultural activism, from preservation of environment and historical heritage to empowerment of marginalised women. She has been a Visiting Scholar, lecturing in several universities on ‘Punjab, Punjabi Culture, Punjabi Literature’ and on ‘Indian Cultural Heritage’, in India, Stockholm,Gottenburg, Copenhagen, Budapest, Athens, School of Oriental Studies London, Istanbul, Cairo, Peredeniya University Sri Lanka, Jahangirnagar University and University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, Tribhuvan University Nepal. etc. Recipient of several national and international awards, including Sahitya Akademi Award and Padma Shri, she is one of the ’1000 Women Peace Crusaders Across the Globe’ for Collective Nobel Peace Prize
Website:
www.arpanacaur.com
Arpana Caur
Born 1954, Solos since 1974 in Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta, Bangalore and Chennai, London, Glasgow, Berlin, Amsterdam, Singapore, Munich, New York and in Stockholm and Copenhagen National Museum. Her work can be seen in Museums of Modern Art in Delhi, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Bhopal, LA, Peabody Essex Boston, Dusseldorf, Singapore, Bradford & Victoria and Albert Museum London and Deutsche Bank collection Frankfurt and Rockfeller collection, NY. Awards include gold medal in VIth International Triennele 1986 in Delhi. She was commissioned by Hiroshima Museum of Modern Art to for its 50th anniversary in 1995, and by Bangalore and Hamburg to do large noncommercial murals in public spaces. Since 1981 she did three non-commercial murals in Delhi.
