Surjit Patar, born as Surjit Hunjan on January 14, 1945, hailed from the village of Pattar Kalan in Jalandhar district, Punjab, India. His father, Harbhajan Singh, migrated to Kenya for work and would only return home every five years. His mother, Harbhajan Kaur, and his four older sisters completed their family.

Patar matriculated from a nearby village school and initially enrolled as a science student in a college in Kapurthala. However, he soon switched to Arts. He graduated from Randhir College, Kapurthala, and then earned a Master's degree from Punjabi University, Patiala. He further pursued a PhD in Literature on "Transformation of Folklore in Guru Nanak Vani" from Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar.

Patar then joined the academic profession and retired as a Professor of Punjabi from Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. His love for Punjab Agricultural University played a major role in his flowering as an author. He spent the better part of his life in PAU, which he joined in 1972 and retired from in 2005. Patar authored many of his works in the university, the beautiful environs of which fuelled his verses.

Surjit Patar started writing poetry in the mid-sixties. His poems enjoy immense popularity with the general public and have won high acclaim from critics. His works of poetry include "Hawa vich Likhe Harf", "Birkh Arz Kare", "Hanere Vich Sulagdi Varnmala", "Lafzaan Di Dargah", "Patjhar Di Pazeb", and "Surzameen".

He also translated into Punjabi the three tragedies of Federico García Lorca, the play Nagmandala of Girish Karnad, and poems of Bertolt Brecht and Pablo Neruda. He also adapted plays from Jean Giraudoux, Euripides, and Racine. He has written television scripts on Punjabi poets from Sheikh Farid to Shiv Kumar Batalvi.

Surjit Patar got married to Bhupinder Kaur Patar on October 22, 1978. Bhupinder Kaur Patar is a homemaker. The couple has two sons, Manraj Patar, and Ankur Patar. Manraj Patar is a lyricist and a singer who is settled in Ludhiana. Ankur Patar is a photographer and a digital artist who is settled in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

He was awarded the Padma Shri in the field of literature and education in 2012. He was the president of the Punjab Arts Council. He had also been the president of the Punjabi Sahit Akademi. The poet and writer has been awarded with the Sahitya Akademi Award.