Ashok Mathur was born in Bhopal, India. He earned a Ph.D. in Postcolonial Literature from the University of Calgary in 1999. His thesis is entitled: Brown Gazing: The Pedagogy and Practice of South Asian Writing in Canada. Mathur’s career in academia included positions at the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in Vancouver, the Okanagan Campus of the University of British Columbia, and Thompson Rivers University. Currently he is Dean of Graduate Studies and the interim (until June 30, 2021) Vice- President, Research and Innovation at OCAD U in Toronto. In addition to poetry and fiction, Mathur has written extensively on literary and social justice issues.
Fiction
A Little Distillery in Nowgong
Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2009.
PS8576 .A8286 L58 2009
Publisher’s Synopsis (from its website)
This fantastical historical novel, narrated by a child yet to be born, traces the lives of three generations of a Parsi family in India from the late 1800s to present day. The narrative follows the family from the intricacies of village life in the jungles of central India to the complications of urban life in turbulent pre- and post-independence struggles to contemporary diasporic realities in the United Kingdom and North America.
Fiction
The Short, Happy Life of Harry Kumar
Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2001.
PS8576 .A8286 S56 2001
Publisher’s Synopsis
Harry Kumar is an unlikely hero who finds himself vaulted into a glob-trotting, island-hopping quest to rescue his closest friend and confidant who has been kidnapped by a mysterious villain. With his travelling companion, a somewhat high-strung dog named Hanuman, Harry becomes embroiled in the odd politics that govern our world — and his own history.
Fiction
Once Upon an Elephant: A Down to Earth Tale of Ganesh and What Happens When Worlds Collide
Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 1998.
PS8576 .A8286 O52 1998
Publisher’s Synopsis
Brash, lurid, and wickedly funny, Once Upon an Elephant is … a fantastical contemporary retelling of the creation story of Ganesh, the elephant-headed Hindu deity.
Poetry
Into Skin
Calgary: Second Wednesday Press, 1991.
Limited ed. of 150 copies.
Poems printed on 14 leaves and 7 cards in portfolio.
Poetry
Loveruage: A Dance in Three Parts
Toronto: Wolsak and Wynn, 1994.
Anthology (Short story)
Fables for the 21st Century
Mathur, Ashok. “On the Wings of Forever: A Fable in Four Temporal Zones.” In Fables for the 21st Century. Banff: Banff Centre Press, 2018, 79-87.
Anthology (Interview)
Producing Canadian Literature
Mathur, Ashok. “The Politics of Our Work.” Interview by Kit Dobson and Smaro Kamboureli. In Producing Canadian Literature: Authors Speak on the Literary Marketplace. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2013, 28-46.