Parallel literary universes in Vancouver

Punjabi language literature has a long history in Greater Vancouver which is largely unknown and under reported in the main stream media. While the awards season focusses attention on the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Governor General’s Literary Awards, in the parallel Punjabi language literary world, the winner of the annual Dhahan Prize was announced in Surrey, British Columbia on Thursday, November 16, 2023 at a gala dinner.

The 2023 winner of the $45,000 prize was writer Deepti Babuta for her Punjabi language short story collection “Bhuk Eon Sah Laindi Hai (‘Hunger Breathes Like This’)”. Founded by Barj S. and Rita J. Dhahan and housed within the Canada India Education Society, the prize is committed to celebrate “the rich culture and transnational heritage of Punjabi literature and languages”. Rungh has learned that the award, the ceremonies, youth awards and various multilingual published anthologies cost in the range of $150,000 annually. By comparison, the Scotiabank Giller Prize awards a first prize of $100,000 with the support of a major Canadian Bank.

In a Dhahan Prize related event, Zubair Ahmad’s short story collection, Grieving For Pigeons, translated into English by UBC Professor Anne Murphy, was launched with an author reading at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver on November 15, 2023. Dhahan Prize founder Barj Dhahan introduced Ahmad and in his introductory comments stated that “the Punjabi arts and literary community has not done a very good job of promoting the thousand-year history of Punjabi literature, which we are now doing”.

While the Dhahan Prize, established in 2014, has certainly increased the visibility of Punjabi language literature, Punjabi writing in Greater Vancouver has a history of more than fifty years as evidenced by the three-day Punjabi Lekhak Manch Vancouver (Punjabi Writers’ Forum) events held from September 22-24, 2023 in Surrey at the Punjabi Banquet Hall. The event featured well know writers and organizers Ajmer Rode, Sadhu Binning, Surjeet Kalsey, Sukhwant Hundal, Jarnail Singh Sekha and Jarnail Singh Artist, amongst others. Attended by over 200 people over the three days, the gathering featured panels, readings and book tables.

Some of the writers who attended were asked by Rungh to comment on the current Punjabi language writing scene in Greater Vancouver. From these sources it becomes clear that there are several different forums in which Punjabi language literature is growing. For example, Sukhi Baath, a prominent car dealer in Surrey, hosts reading and writing workshops in the Punjabi language, as does Baldev Baath, who invites international and local Punjabi language authors to the events he organizes. Theatre artists and writers such as Paneet Singh, Andy Kalirai, Gavan Cheema, and Munish Sharma, are following in the steps of earlier generations through various theatre productions that incorporate the Punjabi language and touch upon themes of family and history.

In addition, as writer Phinder Dulai pointed out to Rungh, there are strong linkages between Punjabi language writers in Greater Vancouver and other organizations like The Writers’ Union of Canada, which is also celebrating its fiftieth anniversary this year. Ajmer Rode was very active within the Writers’ Union as a member of the Steering Committee of the Racial Minority Writers Network in the 1990s. The Steering Committee responded to issues of cultural appropriation, as well as advocating for funding for racialized writers. Surrey based writer Fauzia Rafiq is one of the founders of the Surrey Muse Arts Society which hosts literary readings and events and poet Lakshmi Gill was one of two women poets (along with Dorothy Livesay) who founded the League of Canadian Poets in 1966.

One of the consistent challenges is how to make Punjabi language writing more accessible to non-Punjabi language speaking publics. In Canada, arts funding sources largely only fund arts creation in the two official European languages, English and French. While Indigenous language arts production has other sources of funding, Punjabi language arts production is often relegated to multicultural, heritage, or academic funding streams. As the demographics of Canada change, Punjabi language artists are seeking more equitable funding streams which recognize this growth and which support its artistic production.