Jaswant Singh Kanwal: a reading order for a hundred-year career
2026-09-03 · updated 2026-09-29 · 5 min read · Kitab Hut, Moosa
Read Jaswant Singh Kanwal in this order: Puranmashi first, then Raat Baki Hai, then Lahu Di Lo. He wrote for around seventy years, died in 2020 aged 100, and received the Sahitya Akademi Award for Taushali Di Hanso.
Kanwal is the writer most likely to be in a Punjabi farmhouse that owns only five books. He wrote from Dhudike, his village in Moga district, for something like seventy years, and died in 2020 at a hundred.
Puranmashi — start here
A love story that keeps running into the village. It is early, it is warm, and it is the reason a whole generation started reading Punjabi fiction voluntarily rather than for an exam.
Raat Baki Hai — the night is not over
Darker, and more political. This is where the social criticism that runs under Puranmashi comes to the surface.
Lahu Di Lo — save this one
The Naxalite years in Punjab, written by someone who was sympathetic and present. It is the most argued-about book he wrote. Read it after the first two, when you already know his ordinary register and can hear where it changes.
And then Taushali Di Hanso
The Sahitya Akademi Award came late, in a career that had needed it for forty years. Worth reading once the earlier novels have taught you his habits.
- Puranmashi — ₹250
- Raat Baki Hai — ₹250
- ਲਹੂ ਦੀ ਲੋਅ — Lahu Di Lo — ₹350
- Haani — ₹250
The Jaswant Singh Kanwal shelf — Every Kanwal title we currently hold.
Questions readers ask
Which Jaswant Singh Kanwal novel should I read first?
Puranmashi. It is his most approachable novel and the one most Punjabi readers begin with.
What is Lahu Di Lo about?
It deals with the Naxalite movement in Punjab and the young men drawn into it. It is Kanwal’s most politically charged and most debated novel.
How old was Jaswant Singh Kanwal when he died?
He was 100. He was born in 1919 and died in 2020, having published across roughly seven decades.