Rabindranath Maharaj

Rabindranath Maharaj (born 1955) is a Trinidadian-Canadian novelist, short story writer, and a founding editor of the Canadian literary journal Lichen. His novel The Amazing Absorbing Boy won the 2010 Trillium Book Award and the 2011 Toronto Book Award, and several of his books have been shortlisted for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, the Commonwealth Writers' Prize (Canada and Caribbean Region), and the Chapters/Books in Canada First Novel Award.
He was raised in George Village, Tableland in South Trinidad and Tobago. After receiving a B.A. in English, an M.A. in English and History, and Diploma of Education from the University of the West Indies at Saint Augustine, he worked as a teacher and, briefly, as a columnist for the Trinidad Guardian.
In the early 1990s, Maharaj immigrated to Canada, and in 1993, he completed a second M.A. (this one in Creative Writing) at the University of New Brunswick. In 1994 he moved to the town of Ajax, Ontario, where he taught high school for a number of years. In 1998, Maharaj, along with three other Durham Region writers – Ruth E. Walker, Gwynn Scheltema, and Lucy Brennan – founded and co-edited Lichen Literary Journal, which was launched in May 1999. He remained on the editorial board for another three years.
Since then he has, among other posts, been a writer in residence at the Toronto Reference Library, the University of the West Indies, the University of New Brunswick, a mentor for young writers with Diaspora Dialogues, a faculty member at the Banff Writing Studio, and an instructor with the Humber College School for Writers, and the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies. Apart from his novels and collections of short stories, he has published work in various literary journals and anthologies; written book reviews and articles for The Washington Post, The Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, and others; written a play for CBC Radio; and written two screenplays.
His novel Adjacentland was shortlisted for the 2019 ReLit Award for fiction.
His newest novel, Fatboy Fall Down, published in 2019 was the winner of the 2019 Foreword Indies Silver Medal for Literary Fiction
He continues to reside in Ajax, Ontario.
Bibliography
Novels
Homer in Flight (1997), Goose Lane Editions (also available as an audiobook)
The Lagahoo's Apprentice (2000), Knopf Canada; and Turkey İşbank Culture Publications
A Perfect Pledge (2005), Knopf Canada; Farrar, Straus and Giroux in the US; and Mouria Press, Netherlands
The Picture of Nobody (2010), Good Reads/HarperCollins Canada
The Amazing Absorbing Boy (2010), Knopf Canada
Adjacentland (2018), Buckrider Books/Wolsak and Wynn Publishers Ltd.
Fatboy Fall Down (2019)
Short story collections
The Interloper (1995), Goose Lane Editions
The Writer and His Wife (1996), Peepal Tree Press, UK
The Book of Ifs and Buts (2002), Vintage Canada
Anthologies (as contributor)
AWOL : Tales for Travel-Inspired Minds (2003), Vintage Canada
Victory Meat - New Fiction in Atlantic Canada (2003), Anchor Canada
Reading Writers Reading - Canadian Authors' Reflections (2006), University of Alberta Press
TOK: Writing the New Toronto, book 2 (2007), Zephyr Press
City of Words (2009), Cormorant Books
Northwords (2012), House of Anansi Press
Radio plays
Malcolm and Alvin (for CBC Radio)
Screenplays
Malini (co-writer)
Crabman and Sandbird (writer)
Awards, prizes and nominations
1996 Finalist, Commonwealth Writers' Prize, for best first book (for The Interloper)
1998 Finalist, Chapters/Books in Canada First Novel Award (for Homer in Flight)
2005 Finalist, Commonwealth Writer's Prize (for A Perfect Pledge)
2005 Finalist, Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, for best novel (for A Perfect Pledge)
2010 Trillium Book Award, for best book (for The Amazing Absorbing Boy)
2011 Longlist, OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature (for The Amazing Absorbing Boy)
2011 Toronto Book Award (for The Amazing Absorbing Boy)
2012 Lifetime Literary Award, from NALIS – Trinidad & Tobago's National Library and Information Systems Authority
2013 Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, which honours significant contributions & achievements by Canadians
References
External links
Rabindranath Maharaj's official website
Random House Canada author spotlight
Goose Lane Editions author page
Author interview by John Metcalf (writer) in Canadian Notes & Queries magazine.
Author profile and interview with John Barber, in The Globe & Mail, February 9, 2010.
Living people
Canadian male novelists
1955 births
Trinidad and Tobago emigrants to Canada
Canadian male short story writers
Canadian writers of Asian descent
20th-century Canadian novelists
21st-century Canadian novelists
20th-century Canadian short story writers
21st-century Canadian short story writers
20th-century Canadian male writers
21st-century Canadian male writers
University of the West Indies alumni
University of New Brunswick alumni
Canadian people of Indian descent
People of Indo-Trinidadian descent