MG Vassanji

MG Vassanji is the author of seven novels and is a member of the Order of Canada. He has written two collections of short stories, a travel memoir about India, a memoir of East Africa, and a biography of Mordecai Richler.

He is twice winner of the Giller Prize for best work of fiction in Canada; the Governor General’s Prize for best work of nonfiction; the Harbourfront Festival Prize; the Commonwealth First Book Prize; and the Bressani Prize. The Assassin’s Song was also shortlisted for the Giller Prize, the Governor General’s Prize, the Writers Trust Award, and India’s Crossword Prize. In June 2015, MG Vassanji was awarded the Canada Council Molson Prize for the Arts.

MG Vassanji was born in Nairobi, Kenya and raised in Tanzania. He received a BS from the Massachussetts Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, before going to live in Canada. He lives in Toronto, and visits East Africa and India often.