Rohinton Mistry

Toronto-based Mistry, 52, is perhaps best known for his 1995 novel A Fine Balance that was short-listed for the Booker, and which evokes the stories of fractured families in 1970s India. It also won Canada's best-known literary prize, the Giller, and The Los Angeles Times award for fiction and the Royal Society of Literature's Winifred Holtby Prize.

Mistry, who has written only four works of fiction in 17 years, says he is never in a hurry to produce a book. 'Before I start writing I know I have at least one character who I want to work with,' he told a Canadian magazine recently. 'And I would have a vague idea of where the story might lead. Though it could change direction, I have at least a vague idea of where it might go.'

Three years ago, Mumbai-born Mistry cancelled a book tour of the United States since he and his wife were 'targeted by security agents at every airport' because of his 'Middle-Eastern' appearance.