Accession 2014-013 - Accession 2014-013

Rohinton Mistry, writer, was born in Bombay (now known as Mumbai), India, in 1952, and immigrated to Canada in 1975. He earned a degree in mathematics and economics at the University of Bombay before continuing his education in Canada. He attended York University and the University of Toronto, where he received his B.A. in English and philosophy. Mistry began his career as a writer by winning two Hart House literary prizes in 1983 and 1984, and Canadian Fiction Magazine’s Annual Contributor’s Prize in 1985 for his short stories. Mistry’s first book, a collection of short stories entitled “Tales from Firozsha Baag,” was published in 1987. His first novel, “Such a Long Journey” (1991), won the Governor General's Award, the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best Book, and the W.H. Smith/Books in Canada First Novel Award, and was short listed for the Booker Prize and the Trillium Award. It was adapted for film and released as a major motion picture in 1999. His 1995 novel, “A Fine Balance,” won the Giller Prize, the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, the Los Angeles Times Book Award and the Royal Society of Literature's Winifred Holtby Prize, in addition to an award by the Danish Literature Council. It was also short listed for the Booker Prize, the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and the Irish Times International Fiction Prize. His latest novel, “Family Matters” (2002), was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and was the winner of the Kiriyama Prize and the Canadian Authors Association's Award for Fiction. Mistry received the Trudeau Fellows Prize from the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation in 2004, and a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2005. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2010, was a finalist for the 2011 Man Booker International Prize, and in 2012 was awarded the Neustadt International Prize for Literature. In 2013, on the twentieth anniversary of the Giller Prize, he won the CBC Books’ “Giller of All Gillers” for “A Fine Balance.” In 2016 he was appointed to the Order of Canada. Mistry’s work has been published in more than thirty languages.