{"id":2633,"date":"2023-08-20T11:20:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-20T18:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/annemurphy\/?page_id=2633"},"modified":"2025-04-24T16:15:44","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T23:15:44","slug":"ajmer-rode","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/annemurphy\/research\/punjabi-in-bc\/writers-journalists\/ajmer-rode\/","title":{"rendered":"Ajmer Rode"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ajmer Rode has published more than two dozen books and chapbooks of poetry, drama, prose and translation in Punjabi and English. His works have been included in several English and Punjabi anthologies and his books prescribed in several universities in India. His first book, Vishava Di Nuh\u1fb1r<\/em> (published by the Punjabi University in 1966) expounds Einstein\u2019s Theory of Relativity in fictional and dialogue form and initiated a series of publications on scientific and sociological subjects.\u00a0 Most of his poetry is included in his 1200-page book Leela (co-authored with Navtej Bharati). Leela\u2019s third edition is coming out soon. It was translated into Hindi in 2023 by Aadhar Prakashan, Panchkula, India. In awarding Leela their 2011 poetry prize, the jury members of An\u0101d Foundation, Delhi, commented: \u201cLeela remains unparalleled in the history of Punjabi literature for its courage to explore and experiment with poetic word, cultural memory and our day-to-day existential struggle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rode is a founder of Canadian Punjabi drama and has written and directed 10 plays. His full length play\u00a0Komagata Maru<\/em>, recently digitized and published on-line by Canada\u2019s Simon Fraser University, was the first full-length Punjabi play staged in Canada. His English play, Rebirth of Gandhi<\/em>, premiered in Surrey Arts Center in 2004 as a production of the Chetna Association of Canada. His translations include the English translation of classic Punjabi novel, Marhi Da Diva,<\/em> published as The Last Flicker<\/em> by India\u2019s Sahitya Akademy, Delhi.<\/p>\n

In October 2010 Rode was invited to take part in the Commonwealth Writers Meet in Delhi where writers from 40 countries participated. In 2008 the Canada Council sponsored him to participate in another international poetry festival,\u00a0Kriti<\/em>, held in Chandigarh. He is among 8 international poets whose English poems have been inscribed in bronze on a public wall outside the office of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation complex in downtown Seattle. His poem Kalli is included in a recent anthology, 100 Great Indian Poems, published by Bloomsbury India. His poem Mustard Flowers was included in \u201c11 Groundbreaking Works of 2018\u201d published by the NY based international poetry organization, Words Without Borders. The American Academy of Poets published \u201cMustard Flowers\u201d on their widely read website, Poem-a-Day | Poets.org, and also included it in their \u201cTeach This Poem\u201d series for K-12 students in the U.S. schools. Canada\u2019s Yukon University is the latest to include his poetry in a literary salone (Winter 2023) for discussion on the topic \u201cWhat can Poems do?\u201d Rode\u2019s poems have been translated into Hindi, Greek, Irish, Italian and Romanian.<\/p>\n

Rode has been an active member of the Punjabi Writers Forum, Vancouver. He was on the National Council of The Writers Union of Canada in 1994 and chaired its Racial Minority Writers Committee. He has also served on the Canada Council and BC Arts Council juries to award grants to creative writers.<\/p>\n

Before becoming a full-time writer in 1994, Rode was an engineer and worked as Assistant Professor, computer engineer, Planning Engineer and a Global Warming Expert at various institutions and companies.<\/p>\n

Short promotional video (with English subtitles), 1: How did the Punjabi community in B.C. adapt their language in the 1960s? \u0a2c\u0a40 \u0a38\u0a40 \u0a26\u0a40\u0964 \u0a2a\u0a70\u0a1c\u0a3e\u0a2c\u0a40 \u0a15\u0a2e\u0a3f\u0a0a\u0a28\u0a3f\u0a1f\u0a40 \u0a28\u0a47 1960s \u0a35\u0a3f\u0a71\u0a1a \u0a06\u0a2a\u0a23\u0a40 \u0a5b\u0a2c\u0a3e\u0a28 \u0a15\u0a3f\u0a35\u0a47\u0a02 \u0a2c\u0a26\u0a32\u0a40? \u0628\u06cc \u0633\u06cc \u062f\u06cc \u067e\u0646\u062c\u0627\u0628\u06cc \u06a9\u0645\u06cc\u0648\u0646\u0679\u06cc \u06f1\u06f9\u06f6\u06f0\u062f\u06cc \u062f\u06c1\u0627\u06cc \u0648\u0686 \u0627\u067e\u0646\u06cc \u0632\u0628\u0627\u0646 \u06a9\u06cc\u0648\u06cc\u06ba \u0628\u062f\u0644\u06cc\u061f<\/strong><\/p>\n