Rohinton Mistry
Photo by Alastair Grant, Assoc Press/CBCNominated for the Man Booker prize four times, this Toronto author plunges the reader into a whole new world. Then there's the added luxury of being able to stay awhile, since his novels tend to be long.
In October, Rohinton Mistry won the US Neustadt International Prize for Literature. This is awarded for outstanding achievement in poetry, fiction or drama. The selection was made by a jury representing nine countries, and the prize is worth $50,000.
When his novel Such a Long Journey came out in 1991, it won the Governor General's Award as well as the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, and was later made into a movie. A Fine Balance (1995) won the Scotia Bank Giller and was later featured as an Oprah book club selection. Family Matters (2002) earned the Timothy Findley Award from the Writers' Trust of Canada.
Mistry's novels take place in India. He was born in 1952, grew up in Mumbai, and attended the University of Bombay. Later, at the University of Toronto, he completed a BA in English and philosophy.
His most recent book is The Scream (McClelland and Stewart 2008).