Rohinton Mistry

Rohinton Mistry

CM
Rohinton Mistry; CM
Born	Rohinton Mistry; Bombay, India
Occupation	Novelist
Nationality	Canadian
Alma mater	University of Bombay ; University of Toronto
Genre	Historical fiction, Postcolonial Literature, Realism, Parsi Literature Minor Literature Indian literature
Notable works	Such a Long Journey; Family Matters; A Fine Balance
Spouse	Freny Elavia

Rohinton Mistry CM (born 1952) is an Indian-born Canadian writer. He has been the recipient of many awards including the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 2012. Each of his first three novels was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. His novels to date have been set in India, told from the perspective of Parsis, and explore themes of family life, poverty, discrimination, and the corrupting influence of society.^[1]

Early life and education

Rohinton Mistry was born in Bombay, India, to a Parsi family.^[2] His brother is the playwright and author Cyrus Mistry. He earned a BA in Mathematics and Economics from St. Xavier's College, Bombay.^[3]

He emigrated to Canada with his wife-to-be Freny Elavia in 1975 and they married shortly afterwards.^[4] He worked in a bank for a while, before returning to academia at the University of Toronto where he obtained a BA in English and Philosophy.^[5] ^[6]

Career

While attending the University of Toronto (Woodsworth College) he became the first to win two Hart House literary prizes for stories published in the Hart House Review, and Canadian Fiction Magazine's annual Contributor's Prize for 1985.^[7]

Three 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. The book consists of 11 stories set within an apartment complex in modern-day Bombay. This volume contains the oft-anthologized story, "Swimming Lessons".^[8]

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.^[8] It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and for the Trillium Award. It has been translated into German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Japanese. It was adapted for the 1998 film Such a Long Journey. The content of the book caused controversy at Mumbai University in 2010 due to language used against Bal Thackeray, leader of Shiv Sena, a political party from Maharashtra, as well as some remarks about Maharashtrians.^[9] The book was prescribed for the second year Bachelor of Arts (English) in 2007–08 as an optional text, according to University sources. Later, Dr. Rajan Welukar, University of Mumbai's Vice-Chancellor (V-C) used emergency powers in the Maharashtra Universities Act, 1994, to withdraw the book from the syllabus.^[10]

His third book, and second novel, A Fine Balance (1995), won the second annual Giller Prize in 1995, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction in 1996. It was selected for Oprah's Book Club^[11] in November 2001. It won the 1996 Commonwealth Writers Prize and was shortlisted for the 1996 Booker Prize.^[12]

Family Matters (2002) is a consideration of the difficulties that come with ageing, to which topic Mistry returned 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). Mistry's literary papers are housed at the Clara Thomas Archives at York University.^[13]

In 2002, Mistry cancelled his United States book tour for his novel Family Matters after he and his wife were targeted by security agents at every airport.^[14]^[15]

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 – Booker Prize, shortlist, Such a Long Journey
1991 – Governor General's Award, Such a Long Journey
1991 – Commonwealth Writers Prize, Such a Long Journey
1991 – W.H. Smith/Books in Canada First Novel Award, Such a Long Journey
1991 – Trillium Award, Such a Long Journey
1995 – Giller Prize, A Fine Balance
1995 – Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction, A Fine Balance
1996 – Commonwealth Writers Prize, A Fine Balance
1996 – Booker Prize, shortlist, A Fine Balance
2002 – Booker Prize, shortlist, Family Matters
2002 – James Tait Black Memorial Prize, shortlist Family Matters
2004 – International Dublin Literary Award, shortlist, Family Matters
2012 – Neustadt International Prize for Literature^[16]^[17]
2016 – Appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada (CM) in the 2016 Canadian honours^[18]^[19]
Brampton Arts Walk of Fame, Brampton, Ontario

Selected works

Novels

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)

References

^ Mitchell, Tom (2000). "Mistry, Rohinton". Postcolonial Studies @ Emory. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
^ Gupta, Nidhi (January 2014). "The Making of the Novelist: Rohinton Mistry" (PDF). MIT International Journal of English Language & Literature. 1 (1): 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 April 2018. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
^ "St. Xavier's College alumni write open letter opposing invitation to Aditya Thackeray to attend college event". www.timesnownews.com. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
^ Lambert, Angela (27 April 2002). "The Guardian Profile: Rohinton Mistry". the Guardian. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
^ "The Man Booker Prize". The Man Booker Prize. Archived from the original on 24 January 2012. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
^ "Rohinton Mistry - Literature". literature.britishcouncil.org. Retrieved 3 May 2017.
^ Grandy, Karen (7 July 2015). "Rohinton Mistry | The Canadian Encyclopedia". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
^ ^a ^b 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.
^ "The Relevant Passages". Outlook India. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
^ Burke, Jason (19 October 2010). "Mumbai University drops Rohinton Mistry novel after extremists complain". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
^ 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
^ "Canadian literary papers | Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections". Retrieved 19 May 2021.
^ "Author is singled out, but not in a good way". SFGate. 19 December 2002. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
^ "Author cancels US tour over 'profiling'". BBC. 3 November 2002. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
^ 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
^ "Order of Canada Appointments". The Governor General of Canada His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston. Governor General of Canada. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
^ "Mr. Rohinton Mistry". Governor-General of Canada. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
^ "Lessons to learn from the book Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry| Kaitholil.com". kaitholil.com. Retrieved 2 August 2022.