Jayant Parmer

Who is Jayant Parmer?

Jayant Parmer is an Indian Urdu language poet known for raising Dalit issues in his poetry.

Parmer was born in a poor family. At a young age, he began to paint miniature paintings for a frame maker. Parmer realized that the frame maker had a separate pot for him because he was Dalit. This saddened Parmer and he quit.

Parmer taught himself Urdu from a language learning guide at age 30 after he developed an appreciation for Urdu poetry while living in a Muslim-dominated area in the walled city area of Ahmedabad. He has published three poetry collections: Aur in 1998, Pencil Aur Doosri Nazmein in 2006, and Manind in 2008. Parmer won the 2008 Sahitya Akademi Award in Urdu for Pencil Aur Doosri Nazmein.