Upendranath Ashk

Upendranath Sharma "Ashk", was an Indian novelist, short story writer and playwright. He was born in Jalandhar, Punjab. In 1933 he wrote his second short story collection in Urdu called Aurat Ki Fitrat, the foreword of which was written by Munshi Premchand. Ashk began his literary career writing in Urdu but he switched to Hindi on the advice of Munshi Premchand. He joined All India Radio in 1941 where Krishan Chander, Patras Bokhari and Saadat Hasan Manto were among his colleagues. He settled in Allahabad in the late 1940s. He was the first Hindi dramatist to receive the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for playwriting in 1965.