Harmanjeet Singh, 25, of Khyala Kalan village in Mansa district was announced as one of the recipients of Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar in Punjabi language for his book ‘Rani Tatt’ (Royal Element) on Thursday. The awards were recommended by jury members representing 24 Indian languages and approved by the executive board of the Sahitya Akademi.
“My book deals with everything related with my state of Punjab, and I have tried to look at every incident and aspect through the prism of nature,” says the author, who has also written three songs for the recent Punjabi film Lahoriye. Harmanjeet is a teacher at Government Primary School, Sardulgarh. “I was very interested in literature, which drove me to write this book.”
He feels the book will also dispel “the biggest myth, of poets being addicts”.
“This book will demolish two theories; one, that poets are addicted to drugs or liquor; and second, that poems don’t have commercial value,” says Harmanjeet, who was not entertained by publishers early in 2015, the year of his book launch, only to find them as his new admirers later.