Premchand (1880 -1936) is regarded as one of India's foremost Hindi-Urdu writers. His real name was Dhanpat Rai and he was born in Uttar Pradesh, a large state in India. He started his writing career with writing in Urdu but later wrote in Hindi as well. He wrote more than two hundred and fifty short stories, a dozen novels, several essays and translated a number of foreign literary works into Hindi. Premchand wrote about the village and small town people of India. He wrote about their struggles, their joys and sorrows, their beliefs and brought them all to life in simple language that went straight to the heart. He is, many feel, the undisputed king of short story writing in India. Anupa Lal has been writing for children for the last two decades. She has authored more than a dozen books. Anupa has a post-graduate degree in English from Delhi University. She has been writing on diverse subjects for various periodicals, such as, Times of India, Indian Express, Hindustan Times, Readers's Digest and Sydney Morning Herald. She has brought out several books on Premchand and writes on him with scholarship and understanding. She has also taught courses on creative writing and loves to tell stories to children in storytelling sessions. Anupa Lal's translations of Premchand are a valuable contribution to literature as she has retained the rural Indian quality of Premchand's writing in English.