Rohinton Mistry
|
|
Rohinton Mistry (born July 3, 1952) is a Parsee author.
Born in Bombay, India, Mistry immigrated to Canada in 1975. While attending the University of Toronto he won two Hart House literary prizes 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 a movie.
Rohinton Mistry's novel A Fine Balance won the 1995 Giller Prize and was chosen by the Oprah Winfrey's Book Club No.44. It was also one of the selected books in the 2002 edition of Canada Reads, championed by actor Megan Follows.
His latest book, Family Matters, was nominated for the 2002 Booker Prize. It also won the 2002 Kiriyama Prize.
In 2002, Mistry cancelled his United States book tour because he and his wife were targeted by security agents at every airport he visited, apparently because of his "Middle Eastern" 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."
Bibliography
- Such a Long Journey (1991)
- Tales from Firozsha Baag (1992)
- A Fine Balance (1996)
- Family Matters (2002)
Prizes and 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 (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
External links
- Rohinton Mistry (http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth73) biographical and critical information by James Proctor