VANCOUVER:

The world’s leading award for Punjabi fiction announced its 12th annual winner on Wednesday, naming Balbir Parwana of Jalandhar, India, for his novel In the Time of Unrest . He received a $25,000 award.

Balbir Parwana, Dhahan Prize winner (2025)

Two finalists, Mudassar Bashir from Lahore and Bhagwant Rasulpuri from Jalandhar received $10,000 each. Bashir was recognised for his novel Precarious Shelter and Rasulpuri for his short story collection Delivery Man .

Mudassar Bashir and Bhagwant Rasulpuri, Dhahan Prize Finalists (2025)

An additional $6,000 was awarded for transliteration of the winning books into Gurmukhi or Shahmukhi, the two scripts used for Punjabi.

The Dhahan Prize, based in Richmond, British Columbia, is the largest international literary award for Pun

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