Ruskin Bond
Ruskin Bond | |
|---|---|
| Anglo-Indian writer, Ruskin Bond Anglo-Indian writer, Ruskin Bond | |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Period | 1951-present |
| Genre | Contemporary |
| Subject | Autobiographical, Semi-autobiographical, Fiction, Non-fiction, novella writer, novelist, children and young adult's writer |
Ruskin Bond, born 19 May 1934, is an Indian author of British descent.[1] He is considered to be an icon among Indian writers and children's authors and a top novelist. In 1992 he received the Sahitya Akademi award for English writing in India. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1999 for contributions to children's literature. He now lives with his adopted family in Mussoorie.
Early Life
Ruskin Bond was born in Kasauli (Himachal Pradesh). His father was Aubrey Alexander Bond who served in the RAF during World War II. He had one sister and brother - Ellen and William Bond. When the writer was 8, his mother separated from his father and married a Punjabi-Hindu Mr.Hari who himself was married once. At the age of ten Ruskin went to his grandmother's in Dehra because of his father's sudden death due to frequent bouts of malaria and jaundice. He has lived in Landour since the 1960s, having previously also lived, as a child and young man, in Shimla, Jamnagar, Mussoorie, Dehradun, and London.
Education
Ruskin Bond studied in Bishop Cotton School in Shimla, which is one of the oldest boarding schools in Asia, having been founded on 28 July, 1859, by Bishop George Edward Lynch Cotton. He is one of the most successful writers from Bishop Cotton, which has produced several writers.
Literary Style
Most of his writings show a strong influence from the social life in the hill stations at the foothills of the Himalayas, where he spent his childhood. His first novel, "The Room On the Roof", was written when he was 17 and published when he was 21. It was partly based on his experiences at Dehra, in his small rented room on the roof, and his friends. The "Room On the Roof" brought him the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize in 1957. Since then he has written over three hundred short stories, essays and novellas (including Vagrants in The Valley and A Flight of Pigeons) and more than 30 books for children. He has also published two volumes of autobiography. Scenes from a Writer's Life, which describes his formative years growing up in Anglo-India, and The Lamp is Lit, a collection of essays and episodes from his journal.