Canadian writer Rohinton Mistry is in the running for the Man Booker International Prize, a prestigious award handed out once every two years.

Mr. Mistry’s best-selling books are set in India, often using the country’s politics and history as a backdrop.

Perhaps his best-known work is the 1995 novel A Fine Balance, which traces the lives of four characters in Mumbai amid India’s first decades of post-independence history and, in particular, the 1970s state of emergency imposed by then-prime minister Indira Gandhi.

A Fine Balance was short-listed for the Man Booker, as were his other two novels, Such a Long Journey and Family Matters. He is also the author of the short-story collection Tales from Firozsha Baag and The Scream, a long story published as a book in 2006.

Born in India, Mr. Mistry moved to Canada as a young man, studying at the University of Toronto and eventually settling in Brampton.

Unlike the Booker, which is given to a single novel by a Commonwealth writer, the International Prize covers an author’s entire cannon and is available to writers from all countries.

The award has been handed out since 2005. Its last instalment, in 2009, was won by Canadian Alice Munro. It carries with it a prize of £60,000, which is roughly $93,500 Canadian.

The thirteen authors on the list are:

Wang Anyi (China)

Juan Goytisolo (Spain)

James Kelman (UK)

John le Carre (UK)

Amin Maalouf (Lebanon)

David Malouf (Australia)

Dacia Maraini (Italy)

Rohinton Mistry (India/Canada)

Philip Pullman (UK)

Marilynne Robinson (USA)

Philip Roth (USA)

Su Tong (China)

Anne Tyler (USA)

– The Canadian Press