saadat hasan manto (; , ; 11 may 1912 – 18 january 1955) was a pakistani writer, playwright and author born in ludhiana, british india. writing mainly in the urdu language, he produced 22 collections of short stories, a novel, five series of radio plays, three collections of essays, two collections of personal sketches. his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics. manto was known to write about the hard truths of society that no one dared to talk about. he is best known for his stories about the partition of india, which he opposed, immediately following independence in 1947.