Editing Neil Bissoondath (section)

==Life and career==
Bissoondath attended [[Saint Mary's College, Trinidad and Tobago|St. Mary's College]] in Trinidad and Tobago, where he was born in Arima. Although he was from a [[Hindu]] tradition, he was able to adapt to a [[Catholic]] high school. He describes himself as not very religious and distrustful of dogma. In the early 1970s, political upheaval and economic collapse had created a climate of chaos and violence in the island nation.

In 1973, at the age of 18, Bissoondath left Trinidad and settled in [[Ontario]], where he studied at [[York University]] and received a Bachelor of Arts in French in 1977. He then taught English and French at the Inlingua School of Languages and the Toronto Language Workshop. He won the McClelland and Stewart award and the National Magazine award, both in 1986, for the short story "Dancing". Bissoondath was interviewed by [[Ali Lakhani]] in the journal ''Rungh'' about his views on writing and life.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Lakhani|first=Ali|date=1993|title=Escaping The Cultural Imperative|url=https://digital.lib.sfu.ca/rungh-1052/rungh-south-asian-quarterly-culture-comment-and-criticism-14-1993-page-8|journal=Rungh|location=Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada|publisher=Rungh Cultural Society|volume=1|issue=4|pages=8–13}}</ref>