Rohinton Mistry Biography | Author of Swimming Lessons

Swimming Lessons Author Biography

Rohinton Mistry was born in 1952 in Bombay, India's largest city and the most densely populated place in the world. He grew up as a member of Bombay's middle class Parsi community. His father, Behram Mistry, worked in advertising and his mother, Freny Mistry, was a housewife. He obtained a British-style education at the University of Bombay, studying mathematics and economics and receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in 1975. He then married Freny Elavia, a teacher, and immigrated to Canada, settling in Toronto. He worked as a banker to support himself while taking night courses at the University of Toronto and completed a second baccalaureate degree in 1984, majoring in literature and philosophy.

During this period, Mistry became interested in writing. He studied with Mavis Gallant, a writer-inresidence in Toronto's English Department, and won first prize in a short story contest the university inaugurated in 1983. He won...
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