Kulvant Singh Virk

Born Mar. 7, 1921, in the village of Phularwan, Shekhupura district. Indian writer.

Virk wrote in Panjabi. The son of a small farmer, he was a master of English literature. He worked in the Central Information Bureau (India). Virk’s stories are gathered in the collections Morning (1950), The Earth and the Heavens (1951), A Wisp of Straw (1954), We Are Children of the Most High (1956), Milk Pool (1958), and New People (1967; prize of the Literary Academy, 1968). He focuses on the life of the peasantry, small craftsmen, students, and soldiers, criticizing vestiges of the past and exposing social injustice. Virk is an outstanding stylist—the language of his works is the lively spoken language of modern Punjab. The influence of Russian literature is evident in his work (A. P. Chekhov, M. Gorky).