Khushwant Singh is easily the most widely read author in India today. His weekly columns are reproduced by over fifty journals in all the reginal languages of the country. He has done different things at different times: practised law, diplomacy and politics ; taught comparative religion at Princeton and swarthmore ; and edited The Illustrated Weekly of India and The Hindustan Times. He has written regularly for several European and American Journals including The New York Times. He has also edited and translated a number of literary works.

Author of eighty-nine books, Khushwant Singh is best known for his work of fiction,Train to Pakistan , and his two-volume History of the Sikhs, which is still considered the most authoritative writing on the subject. His acerbic pen, his wit and humour, and, most of all, his ability to laugh at himself, have ensured him immense popularity over the years.

He was a Member of Parliament from 1980 to 1986. Among other honours, he was awarded the Padma  Bhushan in 1974 by the President of India (he returned the decoration in 1984 in protest against the Union government's siege of the Golden Temple, Amritsar).

He lives in New Delhi.