So well-known for his story “Anandi”, Ghulam Abbas was born on 17 November, 1909 at Amritsar. He received his education at Lahore and began his career as a writer in 1925. He began by writing stories and poems for children which were published in a book form from Dar-ul Ishaat, Punjab, Lahore. He also translated stories from foreign languages into Urdu. In 1928, he started working as an assistant Editor with Imtiaz Ali Taj for his journal Phool and Tahzeeb-e Niswaan. In 1938, he joined All India Radio. Radio magazines called Aawaaz and Saarang were edited by him.  Following the Partition of India, he migrated and worked for radio Pakistan and edited its journal called Aahung. In 1949, he got associated with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and worked as Assistant director, Public Relations. In 1949, he joined BBC, London, and worked as Programme Producer. In 1952, he returned to Pakistan and resumed editorial responsibilities of Aahung. Ghulam Abbas superannuated in 1967 and passed away on November 01, 1982 at Lahore.
Ghulam Abbas came into prominence as a short story writer with Ahmad Ali, Ali Abbas Hussaini, Rasheed Jahan, Hijab Imtiaz Ali and such others a little before the establishment of the Progressive Writers Association. It did not take long before he got established as a serious writer of considerable merit. Rising above the stereotypical constructs of good and evil, he wrote stories that underlined the stark realities of human life. His first collection of stories entitled Anandi was published from Maktaba Jadeed Lahore in 1948. He published his other collections Jaadey ki Chandani in July 1960 and his third and last collection Kun Ras in 1969 from Lahore. He also a novel called Gondani Wala Takiya.