Ajmer Rode

Ajmer Rode has published books of poetry, drama, prose, and translation in Punjabi and English. Punjabi University published (1966) his first book Vishava Di Nuhar on Einstein’s theory of relativity to initiate a series of science-based publications in Punjabi. Leela, co-authored with Navtej Bharati, is his principal work of poetry; it is more than 1200 pages and is included in outstanding works of the twentieth-century Punjabi poetry. His poem Kalli is included in a recent anthology 100 Great Indian Poems published by Bloomsbury, 2017. His poem “Stroll in a Particle” is one of the 8 international poems inscribed on a public wall outside the office complex of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle (2013). His poem “Mustard Flowers” is included in “11 Groundbreaking Works of 2018” published by the NY based international magazine, Words Without Borders. The American Academy of Poets published “Mustard Flowers” on their widely read website, Poem-a-Day | Poets.org, and also included it in their “Teach This Poem” series for K-12 students in the U.S. schools. Rode is the founder of the Canadian Punjabi drama. His Komagata Maru is possibly the most cited Punjabi play in Indian diasporic literature. Rode served on the executive committee of The Writers’ Union of Canada and chaired its Racial Minority Writers Committee. He was honored by the Punjab Arts Council and has been the recipient of several awards including Lifetime Achievement award by the University of British Columbia, Canada; and a lifetime achievement award by the Language Department of Punjab, India.

“The Jury especially underlined the significance of their path breaking work, Leela, which runs over a thousand pages and remains unparalleled in the history of Punjabi literature for its courage to explore and experiment….”
“Leela has been aptly described as a book of epic dimensions, one of the most important poetry books of the twentieth century, and an all-time classic.”– Anād Foundation’s jury of scholars on honoring Leela, New Delhi, 2010.