Rabindranath Maharaj
Writer/Mentor 2006
Rabindranath Maharaj is the author of eight books, including five novels: The Amazing Absorbing Boy (2010, Knopf Canada, named a “Best of 2010″ book by NOW and Uptown magazines, and longlisted for the 2011 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature), The Picture of Nobody (2010, Good Reads/HarperCollins Canada), A Perfect Pledge (2005, published simultaneously by Knopf Canada and in the US by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, a finalist for the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize – Canada/ Caribbean Region); The Lagahoo’s Apprentice (2000, Knopf Canada, named a notable book of the year by both the Globe and Mail and Toronto Star); and Homer in Flight (1997, Goose Lane Editions, a finalist for the Chapters/Books in Canada First Novel Award); and three collections of short stories: The Book of Ifs and Buts (2002, Vintage Canada), The Writer and His Wife (1996, Peepal Tree Press, UK), and The Interloper (1995, Goose Lane Editions, nominated for a Commonwealth Writers’ Prize – Canada/Caribbean Region – for Best First Book).
He was born and raised in Trinidad, and graduated from the University of the West Indies with a BA (in English, 1979), an MA (English/History, 1989) and a Diploma of Education (1991). In 1993 he earned a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of New Brunswick. Since then he has been a high school teacher both in Trinidad and Ontario, was a founding editor of the Canadian literary journal LICHEN, and continues to teach and mentor other writers.
Rabindranath Maharaj currently lives in Ajax, Ontario.
