M G Vassanji was born in Kenya and raised in Tanzania. Before coming to
Canada in 1978, he attended MIT and the University of Pennsylvania, where he
specialized in theoretical nuclear physics. From 1978-1980 he was a postdoctoral
fellow at the Atomic Energy of Canada, and from 1980 to 1989 he was a research
associate at the University of Toronto. During this period he developed a keen
interest in medieval Indian literature and history, co-founded and edited a
literary magazine (The Toronto South Asian Review, later renamed The
Toronto Review of Contemporary Writing Abroad), and began writing stories
and a novel. In 1989, with the publication of his first novel, The Gunny
Sack, he was invited to
spend a season at the International Writing Program of the
University of Iowa. That year ended his active career in nuclear physics. His
contributions there he considers modest, in algebraic models and high spin
states. The fact that he was never tenured he considers a blessing for it freed
him to pursue his literary career. In 1996, Vassanji was made a fellow of the
Indian Institute of Advanced Study in Shimla, where he visited again in 2010 as
visiting professor.
If pressed, Vassanji
considers himself African Asian Canadian; attempts to pigeonhole him along
communal or other lines, however, he considers narrow-minded and malicious.
Vassanji is the author
of six novels, two collections of short stories, a travel memoir about India,
and a biography of Mordecai Richler. His work has appeared in
various countries and several languages. He is winner of the Giller Prize (1994,
2003) for best novel in Canada; the Governor General's Prize (2009) for best
work of nonfiction; the Harbourfront Festival Prize; the Commonwealth First
Book Prize (Africa, 1990); and the Bressani Prize. The Assassin's Song was also shortlisted for India's Crossword Prize. He is a member of the Order of Canada.
His wife, Nurjehan, was born in Tanzania. They have two sons, Anil, and Kabir.
He lives in Toronto, and visits East Africa and India often. |