Shyam Selvadurai was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and came to Canada with his family at the age of nineteen. He has studied creative writing and theatre and has a B.F.A. from York University. His first novel, Funny Boy, became a national bestseller, won the W.H. Smith/Books in Canada First Novel Award as well as the Lamda Literary Award, and was named a Notable Book by the American Library Association. Selvadurai lives in Toronto.