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NEW DELHI, Nov 1, 2005 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Award-winning Indian author Amrita Pritam has died at her New Delhi home at age 86, it was reported Tuesday.
The country's first prominent Punjabi poet and novelist had been ill for a long time, the BBC reported.
Pritam, who was 16 years old when her first collection was published, wrote in the Punjabi, Hindi and Urdu languages. She received India's highest literary award, Jnanpith, in 1981 and her writings have been translated in to many different languages, the BBC said.
She was born in Pakistan to a Sikh family in 1919 and came to India in 1947, where she worked for state-owned All India Radio until 1961.
Her novel "Pinjar (Skeleton)" was adapted for a film a few years ago.
Her favorite topics included the plight of Indian women and she often drew upon the neglect and suppression of India's females as themes for her stories.
URL: www.upi.com Copyright 2005 by United Press International
