Rohinton Mistry
| Rohinton Mistry | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Rohinton Mistry 3 July 1952 Mumbai, India |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Alma mater | University of Mumbai; University of Toronto |
| Genres | historical fiction, |
| Notable work(s) | Such a Long Journey; Family Matters; A Fine Balance |
Rohinton Mistry (born 3 July 1952) is an Indian-born Canadian writer in English. Residing in Brampton, Ontario, Canada, Mistry is of Indian origin, originally from Mumbai. He practises Zoroastrianism and belongs to the Parsi community. Mistry is a Neustadt International Prize for Literature laureate (2012).
Biography
Rohinton Mistry was born in 1952 in Mumbai, India. His brother is the playwright and author Cyrus Mistry. He earned a BA in Mathematics and Economics from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. He emigrated to Canada with his wife in 1975, settling in Toronto where he studied at the University of Toronto and received a BA in English and Philosophy.[1] He worked in a bank for a while, before returning to studies, leading up to a degree in English and philosophy. While attending the University of Toronto he won two Hart House literary prizes (the first to win two), for stories which were published in the Hart House Review, and Canadian Fiction Magazine's annual Contributor's Prize for 1985. Two years later, Penguin Books Canada published his collection of 11 short stories, Tales from Firozsha Baag. It was later published in the United States as Swimming Lessons and Other Stories from Firozsha Baag.[2] The book consists of 11 short stories, all set within one apartment complex in modern-day Mumbai. This volume contains the oft-anthologized story, "Swimming Lessons."
When his second book, the novel Such a Long Journey, was published in 1991, it won the Governor General's Award, the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book, and the W.H. Smith/Books in Canada First Novel Award.[2] It was shortlisted for the prestigious Booker Prize and for the Trillium Award. It has been translated into German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Japanese, and has been made into the 1998 film Such a Long Journey.
His third book, and second novel, A Fine Balance (1995), won the second annual Giller Prize in 1995, and in 1996, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction. It was selected for Oprah's Book Club[3] in November 2001 and sold hundreds of thousands of additional copies throughout North America as a result. It won the 1996 Commonwealth Writers Prize and was shortlisted for the 1996 Booker prize.[4]
In 2002, Mistry cancelled his United States book tour for his novel Family Matters (2002) because he and his wife were targeted by security agents at every airport he visited, apparently because Mistry appeared to be Muslim. Mistry reported that on his first flight of the tour, "we were greeted by a ticket agent who cheerfully told us we had been selected randomly for a special security check. Then it began to happen at every single stop, at every single airport. The random process took on a 100 percent certitude."[5] His publisher issued a statement that said, "As a person of colour [Mistry] was stopped repeatedly and rudely at each airport along the way—to the point where the humiliation ... had become unbearable."[6]
Family Matters is a consideration of the difficulties that come with aging, which Mistry returned to in 2008 with the short fiction The Scream (published as a separate volume, in support of World Literacy of Canada, with illustrations by Tony Urquhart).
His books portray diverse facets of Indian socioeconomic life; as well as Parsi Zoroastrian life, customs, and religion. Many of his writings are markedly "Indo-nostalgic".
His literary papers are housed at the Clara Thomas Archives at York University.
Bibliography
Novels
- Such a Long Journey (1991)
- A Fine Balance (1995)
- Family Matters (2002)
Short stories and chapbooks
- Tales from Firozsha Baag (1987), also published as Swimming Lessons and Other Stories from Firozsha Baag (1989)
- Searching for Stevenson (1994)
- The Scream (2006)
Awards and recognition
- 1983 Hart House Literary Contest, "One Sunday"
- 1984 Hart House Literary Contest, "Auspicious Occasion"
- 1985 Annual Contributors' Prize, Canadian Fiction Magazine
- 1991 Man Booker Prize, shortlist, Such a Long Journey
- 1991 Governor General's Award, Such a Long Journey
- 2012 Neustadt International Prize for Literature[7][8]
References
- ↑ "The Man Booker Prize". The Man Booker Prize. Retrieved 2012-01-16.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Malieckal, Bindu (2000). "Rohinton Mistry". In Nelson, Emmanuel Sampath (Ed.), Asian American Novelists: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook, pp. 219-28. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0-313-30911-6.
- ↑ New, William H. (2003). A History of Canadian Literature, (3d ed.), p. 326. McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 0-7735-2597-1.
- ↑ Faber and Faber paperback edition 1997
- ↑ http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Author-is-singled-out-but-not-in-a-good-way-2710661.php
- ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2392847.stm
- ↑ Rohinton Mistry wins Neustadt Prize 2012 - "Parsi Khabar"
- ↑ Critically acclaimed Indian-Canadian writer Rohinton Mistry wins 2012 Neustadt International Prize for Literature - "World Literature Today"
External links
- Rohinton Mistry biographical and critical information by James Proctor
- Biography from the English Department at Emory University
- Rohinton Mistry's entry in The Canadian Encyclopedia
- Morey, Peter (2004). Rohinton Mistry. Manchester University Press. ISBN 9780719067143. (This is an open access book.)
- Author cancels US tour over 'profiling'
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