Rohinton Mistry

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Rohinton Mistry (born 3 July 1952) is considered to be one of the foremost authors of South Asian origin writing in English. Residing in Brampton, Ontario, Canada, Mistry is of Indian origin, and belongs to the Parsi Zoroastrian religious minority.

Born in Mumbai, India, Mistry immigrated to Canada in 1975, after obtaining an undergraduate degree in Mathematics and Economics, from the University of Bombay, 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 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 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.

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 of his appearance. 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." His publisher issued a statement that said, "As a person of color (Mistry) was stopped repeatedly and rudely at each airport along the way—to the point where the humiliation ... had become unbearable."

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 just the bright and cheery.

His literary papers are housed at the Clara Thomas Archives at York University.

[edit] Bibliography

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)

[edit] Awards and recognition

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 (Canada): 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 (Canada): 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