Nanak Singh was a modern punjabi novelist.

Born in a Hindu family, as Hans Raj in village Chak Hamid, Tehsil Dadan Khan, District Jhelum (now in Pakistan) on 4th of July 1897 young Nanak Singh embraced Sikhism and was carried away by the contemporary patriotic  atmosphere and fervour. Nanak Singh's colossal pen and gentle personality had a tremendous impact on his vast number of readers, even including those who were not familiar with Punjabi writing as such. Starting his literary career as a poet, Nanak Singh got initiated into the genre of novel by reading Prem Chand. With unparallel zeal to change society, and with his idealistically reformist vision, he wrote novel after novel leading to a sudden spurt in the literary  world  of  Punjab  in the  decades 1920s to 1960s. Nanak Singh's intense desire to contribute to society and the country saw him put behind the bars in 1922. The Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919 spurred him into writing a long poem called "Blood-stained Baisakhi". The book was banned due to patriotic and revolutionary appeal. Such was his sweep and devotion to the pen that during his  life time, no  other writer could measure  upto his stature  nor has anybody else been considered as coming close to him even after.

Nanak Singh's writings have been highly lauded by eminent personalities. To quote  a few-Renowned Hindi Scholar, the late Dr. Hazari Prasad Dwivedi hailed Nanak Singh "Not a writer in Punjabi alone but  as  a great  writer  of  India".

Nanak Singh wrote 38 novels and dozens of other books in different  genres. He was honoured by the Government of Punjab (Department of Language) in the early 1960s, and in 1962 he was  the recipient of "National Sahitya Academy Award" from Shri Sarvapalli  Radhakrishnan, the then President of India, for his contribution  to  the  Indian  Literature.

Nanak Singh is one of  those  rare Indian writers who, by sheet vision, breadth and devotion to the cause of humanity, transcends the narrow  linguistic  boundaries. His versality, acumen to communicate with the common reader, faith in the might of pen, enabled him to transcend the confines of Punjab and Punjabi readership. He eventually emerged into a towering literary personality of India in the 20th Century. Almost all of his  novels  have been translated into  Hindi  and  several other Indian languages as well as in Russian, Tajik and other foreign languages.

Nanak Singh breathed his last on 28th of  December,  1971 at  Preet  Nagar.

The Department of Posts is pleased to issue a special commemorative stamp on Nanak Singh.

Source : Information Folder issued by Indian Posts & Telegraph Department, Government of India