M.G. Vassanji
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Moyez G. Vassanji (born 30 May 1950 in Kenya) is a Canadian novelist and editor, who writes under the name M. G. Vassanji. Vassanji's work has been translated into several languages. As of 2020, he has published nine novels, as well as two short-fiction collections and two nonfiction books. Vassanji's writings, which have received considerable critical acclaim, often focus on issues of colonial history, migration, diaspora, citizenship, gender and ethnicity. Neloufer de Mel, "Mediating Origins: Moyez Vassanji and the Discursivities of Migrant Identity," in Essays on African Writing: vol 2, Contemporary Literature, ed.
Abdulrazak Gurnah Abdulrazak Gurnah (born 20 December 1948) is a Tanzanian-born British novelist and academic. He was born in the Sultanate of Zanzibar and moved to the United Kingdom in the 1960s as a refugee during the Zanzibar Revolution. His novels include ...
(Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann, 1995): 159–177


Early life and education

M. G. Vassanji was born in
Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...
to Indian immigrants and raised in Tanganyika (now
Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...
). He attended the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
and the
University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
, where he specialised in nuclear physics, before moving to Canada as a postdoctoral fellow in 1978.


Career

From 1980 to 1989 Vassanji was a research associate at the
University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...
. During this period he developed an interest in medieval Indian literature and history, co-founded and edited a literary magazine (''The Toronto South Asian Review'', later renamed ''The Toronto Review of Contemporary Writing Abroad''), and began writing fiction. Between 1989 and 2012, Vassanji published six novels, two collections of short stories, a memoir of his travels in India, and a biography of
Mordecai Richler Mordecai Richler (January 27, 1931 – July 3, 2001) was a Canadian writer. His best known works are '' The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz'' (1959) and '' Barney's Version'' (1997). His 1970 novel '' St. Urbain's Horseman'' and 1989 novel ...
. In 1989, after the publication of his first novel, ''The Gunny Sack'', Vassanji was invited to spend a season at the
International Writing Program The International Writing Program (IWP) is a writing residency for international artists in Iowa City, Iowa. Since 2014, the program offers online courses to many writers and poets around the world. Since its inception in 1967, the IWP has hosted o ...
of the
University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 col ...
. ''The Gunny Sack'' won a regional
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 ...
in 1990. He won the inaugural
Giller Prize The Giller Prize (sponsored as the Scotiabank Giller Prize), is a literary award given to a Canadian author of a novel or short story collection published in English (including translation) the previous year, after an annual juried competitio ...
in 1994 for ''The Book of Secrets''. That year, he also won the Harbourfront Festival Prize in recognition of his "achievement in and contribution to the world of letters," and was one of twelve Canadians chosen for ''
Maclean's ''Maclean's'', founded in 1905, is a Canadian news magazine reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events. Its founder, publisher John Bayne Maclean, established the magazine to provide a uniquely Canadian persp ...
Magazine''s Honour Roll. In 1996 he was a Fellow of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study in Shimla, India. He again won the Giller Prize in 2003 for ''The In-Between World of Vikram Lall'', the first writer to win this prize twice.Charles Foran
"M.G. Vassanji travels back to Tanzania"
''Maclean's'', October 19, 2014
In 2006, ''When She Was Queen'' was shortlisted for the City of Toronto Book Award. '' The Assassin's Song'', released in 2007, was short-listed for the 2007 Giller Prize, the Rogers Prize, and the Governor General's Prize in Canada, as well as the Crossword Prize in India. In 2009 his travel memoir, ''A Place Within: Rediscovering India'', won the Governor-General's Prize for nonfiction. He has also been awarded the Commonwealth Regional Prize (Africa). His novel ''The Magic of Saida'', set in Tanzania, was published in Canada in 2012, and in 2014 he published his memoirs, ''Home Was Kariakoo'', based on his childhood and recent travels in East Africa. and in 2016 he published another novel, ''Nostalgia''. In 2019, his ninth novel ''A Delhi Obsession'' was published to wide acclaim. He is a member of the
Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the cen ...
and has been awarded several honorary doctorates. In 2016, he received the Canada Council
Molson Prize The Thomas Henry Pentland Molson Prize for the Arts is awarded by the Canada Council for the Arts. Two prizes are awarded annually to distinguished individuals. One prize is awarded in the arts, one in the social sciences and humanities. The priz ...
for his career achievement.


Themes

Vassanji's works have been extensively reviewed by literary critics, such as in works edited by 2021 Nobel prize winner
Abdulrazak Gurnah Abdulrazak Gurnah (born 20 December 1948) is a Tanzanian-born British novelist and academic. He was born in the Sultanate of Zanzibar and moved to the United Kingdom in the 1960s as a refugee during the Zanzibar Revolution. His novels include ...
. Several themes emerge. Mainly, his characters are the Asians of East Africa (Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania), whose historical record, as of that region as a whole, is sparse. In telling the story of his subjects, in his earlier novels he has used memory, written record, and folklore, in an intersection of
oral The word oral may refer to: Relating to the mouth * Relating to the mouth, the first portion of the alimentary canal that primarily receives food and liquid **Oral administration of medicines ** Oral examination (also known as an oral exam or or ...
and written histories. Thus in ''The Gunny Sack'', his first novel, he starts with many memories, but his narrator has to delve into written history, primarily through colonial journals and travelogues, to complete and give shape to his created history. His third novel, ''The Book of Secrets'' starts with the journal of a colonial administrator at the border between German and British East Africa and brings to his creation memories and archival material. In ''The In-between World of Vikram Lal''l, he looks at the condition and involvement of the Asians of Kenya during the Mau Mau War of the 1950s. The past and unresolved issues cast strong shadows in his works. In his other works, for example No New Land, his characters have undergone a second migration, starting in the 1970s, to Europe, Canada, or the United States. Vassanji then examines how the lives of these characters are affected by their migrations. Though few of his African Asian characters ever return to India, the country's presence looms throughout his work. His 2007 novel ''The Assassins Song'', inspired by the devotional, mystical songs of his Khoja Ismaili community, which deeply influenced him in childhood, is set almost entirely in India, where it was received as an Indian novel and short-listed for the Crossword Prize. His second novel, ''No New Land,'' describes the travails of Asian immigrants arrived in Canada from Tanzania; as the title implies, there is no new land, the characters continue in their minds to lead the same lives. In the dystopic novel ''Nostalgia Vassanji'' tackles the topic of assimilation, in which characters can have their memories erased and replaced by new ones in order to be better integrated. But, the novel asks, is the process of erasure perfect? Vassanji writes about the effects of history and the interaction between personal and public histories, including folk and colonial history. Vassanji's narratives follow the personal histories of his main characters; the historical perspective provided often leaves mysteries unsolved. The colonial history of Kenya and
Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...
serves as the backdrop for much of his work; in the ''Assassin's Song'', however, he tackles Indian folk culture and myths.


Bibliography


Novels

* ''The Gunny Sack'' (1989) * ''
No New Land ''No New Land'' is a novel by M. G. Vassanji, published in 1991. The action is largely set in Dar es Salaam and Toronto. The title is derivited from Lawrence Durrell's novel ''The Alexandria Quartet ''The Alexandria Quartet'' is a tetralogy ...
'' (1991) * ''
The Book of Secrets ''The Book of Secrets'' is the sixth studio album by Loreena McKennitt, released in 1997. It reached #17 on the Billboard 200. Its single "The Mummers' Dance," remixed by DNA, was released during the winter of 1997–98, and peaked at #18 on t ...
'' (1994) * ''Amriika'' (1999) * ''
The In-Between World of Vikram Lall ''The In-Between World of Vikram Lall'' is a novel by M. G. Vassanji, published in 2003 by Doubleday Canada. The novel won the Scotiabank Giller Prize that year and narrates a story of Vikram Lall in the colonial and post-colonial Kenya. The tit ...
'' (2003) * '' The Assassin's Song'' (2007) * ''The Magic of Saida'' (2012) * ''Nostalgia'' (2016) Zane Schwartz
"M.G. Vassanji delivers a dystopian story"
''Maclean's'', October 1, 2016
* ''A Delhi Obsession'' (2019)


Short story collections

* ''Uhuru Street'' (1992) inspired by Naipaul's Miguel Street. * ''When She Was Queen'' (2005)


Non-fiction collections

* ''A Place Within'' (2008) * ''Extraordinary Canadians: Mordecai Richler'' (2008) * ''And Home Was Kariakoo: A Memoir of East Africa'' (2014)


References


External links

*
M. G. Vassanji's
entry at
The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; french: L'Encyclopédie canadienne) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with the support of Canadian Heritage. Available f ...

M.G. Vassanji
Emory University Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...
, Department of English
Interview and excerpt from ''The Assassin's Song'', online from CBC Words at Large


THECOMMENTARY.CA, 26 September 2007
The autor's item
at Athabasca University, English-Canadian Writers, by Lee Skallerup
Interview on A Delhi Obsession
The Open Magazine
Interview with Financial Express on A Delhi Obsession
The Financial Express {{DEFAULTSORT:Vassanji, M.G. 1950 births Living people Canadian male novelists Tanzanian novelists Canadian people of Indian descent Kenyan emigrants to Canada Canadian writers of Asian descent Canadian expatriates in the United States Canadian people of Gujarati descent Canadian Ismailis Kenyan Ismailis MIT Department of Physics alumni Members of the Order of Canada Naturalized citizens of Canada Tanzanian emigrants to Canada University of Nairobi alumni University of Pennsylvania alumni Harbourfront Festival Prize winners Governor General's Award-winning non-fiction writers International Writing Program alumni Canadian male non-fiction writers