Editing Neil Bissoondath

{{short description|Trinidadian-Canadian author|bot=PearBOT 5}}
'''Neil Devindra Bissoondath''' {{post-nominals|country=CAN|OC|CQ}} (born 19 April 1955, in [[Arima]], [[Trinidad and Tobago]]) is a Trinidadian-Canadian author who lives in [[Quebec City]], [[Quebec]], Canada. He is a noted writer of fiction. He is an outspoken critic of Canada's system of [[multiculturalism]], and is the nephew of authors [[V. S. Naipaul]], [[Shiva Naipaul]], and [[Savi Naipaul Akal]]; grandson of [[Seepersad Naipaul]]; grandnephew of [[Rudranath Capildeo]] and [[Simbhoonath Capildeo]]; and cousin of [[Vahni Capildeo]].

==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>

==Awards==
He won the [[Writers' Trust of Canada]]'s [[Gordon Montador Award]] in 1995 for ''Selling Illusions''.<ref>"Debated book wins Montador". ''[[Halifax Daily News]]'', 5 May 1995.</ref>

Bissoondath has received honorary doctorates from [[Glendon College]], [[York University]]<ref>Nishat Karim, [http://www.yorku.ca/yul/gazette/past/archive/060999/convo.html "York presents new honorary doctorates at spring convocation 1999"], ''York University Gazette'', Vol. 29, No. 33, 9 June 1999.</ref> and [[Université de Moncton]].<ref>[http://canadaimmigration.typepad.com/canada_immigration/2008/05/immigrants-shou.html "Immigrants should help preserve culture, says author"], Canada Immigration, 29 May 2008.</ref> In 2010 he was made a Chevalier of the [[Ordre national du Québec]].<ref>[http://www.ordre-national.gouv.qc.ca/membres/membre.asp?id=2571 "Neil Bissoondath - Chevalier (2010)"], Ordre national du Québec.</ref> In 2012, he was awarded the [[NALIS]] (National Library of Trinidad and Tobago) Lifetime Literary Achievement Award.<ref name=NALIS>[http://www.nalis.gov.tt/Research/SubjectGuide/Biographies/BiographiesAC/tabid/100/Default.aspx?PageContentID=1132 Neil Bissoondath biography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141013231527/http://www.nalis.gov.tt/Research/SubjectGuide/Biographies/BiographiesAC/tabid/100/Default.aspx?PageContentID=1132 |date=13 October 2014 }} at NALIS.</ref>

==Bibliography==
===Novels===
*''A Casual Brutality'' ({{ISBN|9781896951409}}) – 1989
*''The Innocence of Age'' – 1993
*''The Worlds Within Her'' ({{ISBN|9781896951874}}) – 1999 (Nominated for a [[1999 Governor General's Awards|Governor General's Award]])
*''Doing the Heart Good'' ({{ISBN|9781896951645}}) – 2002
*''The Unyielding Clamour of the Night'' ({{ISBN|9781896951874}}) – 2005
*''The Soul of All Great Designs'' ({{ISBN|9781897151327}}) – 2008

===Novella===
*''Postcards from Hell'' – 2009

===Short story collections===
*''Digging Up Mountains'' – 1986
*''On the Eve of Uncertain Tomorrows'' – 1990

===Non-fiction===
*''[[Selling Illusions: The Cult of Multiculturalism in Canada]]'' 1994

==See also==
* [[Capildeo family]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/neil-bissoondath/ Neil Bissoondath's] entry in [[The Canadian Encyclopedia]]
* [http://www.nalis.gov.tt/Research/SubjectGuide/Biographies/BiographiesAC/tabid/100/Default.aspx?PageContentID=1132 Neil Bissoondath biography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141013231527/http://www.nalis.gov.tt/Research/SubjectGuide/Biographies/BiographiesAC/tabid/100/Default.aspx?PageContentID=1132 |date=13 October 2014 }} at NALIS.
* Nicholas Dinka, [http://www.quillandquire.com/authors/hard-questions/ "Neil Bissoondath - Hard questions"], ''Quill & Quire''.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bissoondath, Neil}}
[[Category:1955 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Canadian Hindus]]
[[Category:Canadian male novelists]]
[[Category:Canadian people of Indian descent]]
[[Category:Critics of multiculturalism]]
[[Category:Trinidad and Tobago novelists]]
[[Category:Trinidad and Tobago emigrants to Canada]]
[[Category:Trinidad and Tobago Hindus]]
[[Category:Writers from Quebec City]]
[[Category:People from Arima]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian novelists]]
[[Category:21st-century Canadian novelists]]
[[Category:Trinidad and Tobago people of Indian descent]]
[[Category:Trinidad and Tobago male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian male writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Canadian male writers]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Université Laval]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of Canada]]
[[Category:Naipaul family]]
[[Category:Novelists from Quebec]]