Balbir Madhopuri

Balbir Madhopuri (Punjabi: ਬਲਬੀਰ ਮਾਧੋਪੁਰੀ) is a Punjabi language writer, poet and translator. He is best known for his autobiography, Chhangiya Rukh. His writings are primarily focused on the issues related to the oppressed and depressed classes, especially Dalits. In 2021, He has received The Dhahan Prize for Punjabi Literature for his novel Mitti Bol Payi.

The Dhahan Prize is an annual prize awarded by the Canada-India education society for excellence in Punjabi fiction. The prize is given to three books of fiction, written in either Gurmukhi or Shahmukhi script (Punjabi). In 2021, Balbir Madhopuri’s Mitti Bol Payi has received The Dhahan Prize for Punjabi Literature in the novel category. Mitti Bol Paye deals with the historic inequality and mistreatment of the lower castes, women, the landless poor, and those denied access to education by powerful landlords and higher castes. In November 2022, Madhopuri had three lecture series in different cities of Canada as the recipient of this award.

Balbir Madhopuri was born in 1955 in Madhopur, a small village in district Jalandhar, Punjab. He worked as a child labourer and an agricultural worker at his early age. Despite a humble beginning, he managed to acquire a post-graduate degree in Punjabi. Madhopuri is a Punjabi poet with three collections of poetry. His autobiography is Chhangiya Rukh which was written by him in Punjabi. Changiya Rukh (Against the Night) by Oxford University Press in 2010 has also been published in some Indian languages including Hindi and Shahmukhi (in Pakistan in 2010). In 2021, Chhangiya Rukh has been translated in Urdu by Ajmal Kamal.Madhopuri has authored 14 books in his mother tongue. Apart from his original works he has translated two and thirty into Punjabi from Hindi and English. He has also edited 40 books in Punjabi. He wrote research papers on Ghadar Movement, Revolutionaries, Naxal poet Pash, Dalit Movements in Punjab and India etc. have been published and included in the books edited by different scholars.