Rupinderpal Singh Dhillon

Rupinderpal Singh Dhillon or Roop Dhillon (Punjabi: ਰੂਪਿੰਦਰਪਾਲ ਸਿੰਘ ਢਿੱਲੋਂ, born 1969) is a British Punjabi writer of fiction and poetry. Dhillon was born in West London and initially raised in Southall. He studied at Oxford Brookes University and De Montfort University and is an accountant. He has been living in Reigate since the mid 2000s. Originally intending to write an English novel based on the life of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in the mode of Alexandre Dumas, Dhillon became interested in writing in Punjabi after learning the Gurmukhi alphabet in his thirties. His debut novel, Neela Noor, was published in 2007. He writes in the locally spoken form of the language whose syntax is influenced by English; sometimes called 'Punglish', it had not previously been written down. His work is mainly influenced by Western literature and confronts social issues including racism, gender bias and incest. Bharind (The Hornet) is a collection of short stories and poetry. In his later novels such as the experimental gothic novel O, he employs a genre he calls Vachitarvaad, which encompasses science fiction, fantasy, horror and magical realism.