Shiv Kumar Batalvi (1936-1973) remains to this day, undoubtedly one of the most widely read and loved poets in Punjabi. He became a poetic legend within a brief span of life. His poetry is a mosaic of myths, folklore, allusions and at times he is epigrammatic and aphoristic too.

He was basically a lover who understood the female psyche to its core. The galaxy of his female characters, from Maina to Loona, explore the depths of intimate and tender feelings, adoration and adulation of fatal charms, which only love can reveal. His great verse play Loona won the Sahitya Akademi award in 1967.

S. Soze (b. 1939) is a distinguished Punjabi fiction writer with more than forty books to his credit. He won the Punjab Govt. Award for fiction in 1991. He has translated many books from English and Urdu into Punjabi, including Nehru's Discovery of India.

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