Born in Kashmir, Hari Krishna Kaul (1934-2009), was forced to leave in 1990. Kaul started his literary career writing short stories in Urdu and Hindi but switched to writing in Kashmiri in the mid-60s. His first collection of short stories in Kashmiri, Pata Laraan Parbat, was published in 1972 and immediately established him as a major writer. Three collections of short stories and numerous television and radio plays followed. His only novel, Vyath Vyatha, was published in 2005. He received the Sahitya Akademi Award for Kashmiri fiction in 2000.