Ruskin Bond is an Indian contemporary author of British descent. He is considered an icon among Indian writers and children's authors and a top novelist. Bond became famous as a young talented writer at the age of 21. His first novel, The Room on the Roof, won John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize in 1957.
Since then he has written several novellas, over 500 short stories, as well as various essays and poems, all of which have established him as one of the best-loved and most admired chroniclers of contemporary India.
Some other notable works of Ruskin Bond include Blue Umbrella, A Flight of Pigeons, and Funny Side Up. His works have also been adapted for television and film.
Shyam Benegal's 1978 film Junoon was based on A Flight of Pigeons and The Blue Umbrella was filmed by the Bollywood director Vishal Bharadwaj in 2005. The movie won the National Film Award for Best Children's Film. A BBC TV series based on his debut novel, the short story Susanna’s Seven Husbands was adapted into a film as 7 Khoon Maaf in 2011.
He also wrote two autobiographical volumes, Scenes from a Writer’s Life and The Lamp is Lit; Leaves from a Journal. The first book recounts his formative years in India, while the second is based on diary entries, a collection of essays, and episodes from his life as a freelance writer.
In 1992 Ruskin Bond received the Sahitya Akademi award for English writing, for his short stories collection, Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra, by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters in India.
He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1999 for contributions to children's literature.
Ruskin Bond now lives with his family in Landour near Mussoorie.
