Rohinton Mistry
Rohinton
Mistry (born 3 July 1952) is considered to be one
of the foremost authors of Indian
heritage writing in English.
Born in Mumbai,
India, Mistry immigrated to
Canada in 1975, after obtaining an
undergraduate degree in Mathematics and Economics,
from Bombay University, in 1973. 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) 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.
When his first
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. It was short-listed 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 second novel, A Fine Balance (1995),
was selected for Oprah's Book
Club in November 2001 and sold hundreds of
thousands of additional copies throughout North
America. It won the 1995 second annual Giller Prize, and in
1996, the Los Angeles Times
Book Prize for Fiction.
His books, thus
far, portray diverse facets of Indian socioeconomic
life; as well as Parsi Zoroastrian life, customs, and
religion. Many of his writings are markedly
"Indo-nostalgic", though he pointedly also exposes the
seedy and grim side of life, not just the bright and
cheery.
His literary
papers are housed at the Clara Thomas Archives at York
University and he currently resides in Brampton,
Ontario, Canada
Books
-
Tales from Firozsha
Baag (1987), also published
as Swimming Lessons and Other Stories from
Firozsha Baag (1989)
-
Such a Long
Journey (1991)
-
A Fine Balance (1995)
-
Family Matters (2002)
Awards
-
1983 First Prize,
Hart House Literary Contest: "One Sunday"
(short story)
-
1984 First Prize,
Hart House Literary Contest: "Auspicious
Occasion" (short story)
-
1985 Annual Contributors'
Prize, Canadian Fiction Magazine
-
1991 Booker Prize
for Fiction (shortlist): Such a Long Journey
-
1991 Governor
General's Literary Award for Fiction: Such
a Long Journey
-
1992 Commonwealth
Writers Prize (Overall Winner, Best Book): Such
a Long Journey
-
1992 Books in
Canada First Novel Award: Such a Long Journey
-
1995 Giller Prize: A Fine Balance
-
1996 Booker Prize
for Fiction (shortlist): A Fine Balance
-
1996 Commonwealth
Writers Prize (Overall Winner, Best Book): A
Fine Balance
-
1997 Irish Times
International Fiction Prize (shortlist): A
Fine Balance
-
2002 James Tait
Black Memorial Prize (for fiction) (shortlist): Family Matters
-
2002 Kiriyama
Pacific Rim Book Prize (joint winner with Pascal
Khoo Thwe): Family Matters
-
2002 Booker Prize
for Fiction (shortlist): Family Matters
