Ashok Mathur is a South Asian (

Indo-Canadian Indian Canadians are Canadians who have ancestry from India. The terms ''Indo-Canadian'' or ''East Indian'' are sometimes used to avoid confusion with the Indigenous peoples in Canada, Indigenous Peoples of Canada. Categorically, Indian Cana ...

) cultural organizer, writer and visual artist. Prior to this he was the head of Creative Studies and a professor in the Department of Creative Studies at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan campus. As a

Canada Research Chair Canada Research Chair (CRC) is a title given to certain Canadian university research professors by the Canada Research Chairs Program. Program goals The Canada Research Chair program was established in 2000 as a part of the Government of Canada ...

in Cultural and Artistic Inquiry, he also directed the Centre for Innovation in Culture and the Arts in Canada (CiCAC).Faculty profile
Thompson Rivers University, retrieved 2010-11-26.

Early life and education

Mathur was born in

Bhopal Bhopal (; ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes'' due to its various natural and artificial lakes. It i ...

, India; in 1962, at the age of one, he emigrated with his family to Canada. He worked as a journalist from 1981 to 1985, and then completed his studies at the

University of Calgary The University of Calgary (U of C or UCalgary) is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The University of Calgary started in 1944 as the Calgary branch of the University of Alberta, founded in 1908, prior to being ins ...

, earning a bachelor's degree, master of arts, and Ph.D. Prior to joining Thompson Rivers in 2005, he taught at the

Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design Emily Carr University of Art + Design (abbreviated as ECU) is a public art university located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The university's campus is located within the Great Northern Way Campus in Strathcona. The university is a co-e ...

Works

Mathur is the author of a volume of poetic prose (''Loveruage; a dance in three parts'', Wolsak and Wynn, 1994), a long poem ("The First White Black Man", monograph press, 2017) and three novels: * ''Once Upon an Elephant'' (Arsenal Pulp Press, 1998, ) recounts the story of the birth of

Ganesh Ganesha ( sa, गणेश, ), also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped Deva_(Hinduism), deities in the Hindu deities, Hindu pantheon and is the Supreme God in Ganapatya sect. His image is ...

as a Canadian courtroom drama. *''The Short, Happy Life of Harry Kumar'' (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2002, ) was nominated for the

Commonwealth Writers' Prize Commonwealth Foundation presented a number of prizes between 1987 and 2011. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best ...

, and blends the

Ramayana The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...

with modern Canada. *''A Little Distillery in Nowgong'' (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2009, ) follows three generations of a

Parsi Parsis () or Parsees are an ethnoreligious group of the Indian subcontinent adhering to Zoroastrianism. They are descended from Persians who migrated to Medieval India during and after the Arab conquest of Iran (part of the early Muslim conq ...

family from India to North America. Along with the novel, Mathur also produced an associated art installation, which wa
shown in Vancouver
Ottawa, and Kamloops. Additionally, Mathur's artwork "one hundred thirty-three thousand five hundred twenty-eight words and a super-8 grab" was part of a 2009 acquisition by the Canada Council Art Bank..

References

External links

Centre for Innovation in Culture and the Arts in CanadaAshok Mathur's blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mathur, Ashok Living people Academic staff of Thompson Rivers University Canadian male novelists University of Calgary alumni Indian emigrants to Canada Writers from Bhopal Canada Research Chairs 1961 births Canadian journalists Canadian male non-fiction writers