Rabindranath Maharaj
Rabindranath Maharaj (born April 1955, in Trinidad), not to be confused with Rabindranath R. Maharaj, is a Canadian novelist, short story writer, and a founding editor of the Canadian literary journal Lichen. His novel The Amazing Absorbing Boy won the 2010 Trillium Book Award and the 2011 Toronto Book Award, and several of his books have been shortlisted for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, the Commonwealth Writers' Prize (Canada and Caribbean Region), and the Chapters/Books in Canada First Novel Award. He was raised in George Village, Tableland in South Trinidad. After receiving a B.A. in English, an M.A. in English and History, and Diploma of Education from the University of the West Indies, Saint Augustine, he worked as a teacher and, briefly, as a columnist for the Trinidad Guardian. In the early 1990s, Maharaj immigrated to Canada, and in 1993, he completed a second M.A. (this one in Creative Writing) at the University of New Brunswick. In 1994 he moved to the town of Ajax, Ontario, where he taught high school for a number of years. In 1998, Maharaj, along with three other Durham Region writers - Ruth E. Walker, Gwynn Scheltema, and Lucy Brennan - founded and coedited Lichen Literary Journal, which was launched in May 1999. He remained on the editorial board for another three years. Since then he has, among other posts, been a Writer in Residence at the Toronto Reference Library, a mentor for young writers with Diaspora Dialogues, and an instructor with both the Humber College School for Writers, the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies, and Ryerson University. Apart from his novels and collections of short stories, he has published work in various literary journals and anthologies; written book reviews and articles for The Washington Post, The Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, and others; written a play for CBC Radio; and written two screenplays. He continues to reside in Ajax, Ontario.