“My mother wanted me to join the Indian army, as the army was seen as a decent and respectable career to have. I shocked my mother by telling her that I wanted to be a writer.”

Indian author and poet

Ruskin Bond is an Indian author and poet, best known for fiction that has reached readers across generations. His first novel, The Room on the Roof, was published in 1956 and won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. He has written more than 500 short stories, essays, and novels, including 69 books for children. His work was recognized with the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1992 for Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra, the Padma Shri in 1999, and the Padma Bhushan in 2014.