Ajmer Rode

Ajmer Rode was born in 1940 in Rode of Punjab, India, and received his bachelor’s degree in engineering at Punjab University before immigrating to Canada, where he received his master’s degree from the University of Waterloo.

Rode has published several books of poetry, prose, drama, and translation in Punjabi and English. He is the author of two books of poetry in English, Poems at My Doorstep (Caitlin Press, 1985) and Blue Meditations (Third Eye Publications, 1985). His poetry collection Leela, coauthored with Navtej Bharati, is considered a notable work of contemporary Punjabi poetry.

Rode’s honors include the Best Oversees Punjabi Author award from the Punjab Languages Department, the Anᾱd Foundation’s Anᾱd Kav Sanmᾱn award and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the University of British Columbia, among others. He also served on the National Council of the Writers Union of Canada, chairing its Racial Minority Writers Committee, and was a coordinator of the Punjabi Writers Forum in Vancouver, the oldest Punjabi writers association in Canada. He lives in Vancouver.