LIFTOFF!

THE LONG AND THE SHORT OF IT

Pratap Reddy’s short stories have been published in Canada, the US and India.

Pratap Reddy always enjoyed reading. His love of reading ensured he excelled in academics. He is a recipient of a gold medal in the undergraduate program in Arts (Economics), but he also triumphed in quiz competitions, winning the Brand Equity contest, India’s biggest and most prestigious quiz show.

He worked for companies like Coromandel Fertilisers and Tata Teleservices in Hyderabad, India, before immigrating to Canada in 2002 with the dream of becoming a writer.

He worked at various times as a security guard, a packer in a warehouse and fare-box dumper for Mississauga Transit before finding stable employment as an underwriter at Canada Life which enabled him to devote more time to his literary aspirations. The challenges which newly-arrived immigrants in Canada face gave him the stimulus to weave tales of fiction on the subject of the immigrant experience.

Simultaneously, he completed a creative writing course from the Humber School for Writers, and a program on writing short fiction from the Chang School at Toronto Metropolitan University.

His short stories have been published in Canada, the US and India.

He has received grants from the Ontario Arts Council and awards from the Mississauga Arts Council (including a Marty for Best Established Literary Artist).

In Canada, his fictional work was published by Guernica, a reputed independent publisher, fulfilling Reddy’s life-long ambition.

The manuscript of his very first book (Weather Permitting and Other stories, 2016) won the Diaspora Dialogues award which provided valuable mentoring advice.

His second book, a novel, Ramya’s Treasure (Guernica, 2018) examined immigration and settlement through the eyes of a single woman from India. It received praise from the Toronto Star, was nominated for Best Novel of the Year by the Miramichi Reader in New Brunswick and appeared on the bestseller list of the Calgary Herald in Alberta (the crowning achievement of a successful book tour of Western Canada organized by his publisher Guernica Editions).

Shards of Verse was self-published in December 2024 thanks to a generous grant from the Mississauga Arts Council. It contains two-award winning poems.

This month (March 2025) Guernica will launch Reddy’s new collection Remaindered People & Other Stories. This book explores the other side of immigration – empty-nesters left behind, seniors compelled to immigrate with their adult children, unsuccessful immigrants returning to India, etc. One of the stories in this book was included in the much-acclaimed anthology Changing the Face of Canadian Literature.

Remaindered People & Other Stories by Pratap Reddy is published by Guernica.

Reddy not only writes with passion, but he also demonstrates social responsibility in the literary field. He serves on the board of The Bootmakers of Toronto: The Sherlock Holmes Society of Canada and is the treasurer and board member of Diaspora Dialogues – a nonprofit which supports and encourages new writers. He is a member of Courtney Park Writers Group, Mississauga Writers Group and Telugu Vahini.

Pratap Reddy lives in Mississauga with his wife and son and is currently working on Praful’s Errand, his first book that stays clear of immigrants and immigration. It is set in India and is about the “me too” movement.