Canada Reads finalist M.G. Vassanji on how he went from a nuclear physicist to a writer

When he spoke to the CBC back in 1994, Canadian author M.G. Vassanji reflected on leaving nuclear physics behind to become a writer — and what exactly fuels his work in fiction.

"I always loved to write since I was a kid," he says. "We had a course, it was called 'composition period.' And it was my favourite! Although most of my classmates hated it. But I really liked it, and I think that was because I was allowed to express myself. And writing was the best way I could express myself."

Later on — after he moved to Canada — Vassanji realized there was so much he had gone through.

"You know, the British Empire, Independence, leaving home, and so on...other things," he recalls. "So much my community of people, the Indians in Africa, had gone through and so on, that it was just waiting to come out and I had to do it. So I sat down to do it, but I was also practising science, and doing two things sort of — one with one hand and the other with another. And then my first book was published, I knew I could do it and I decided this is what I want to do."

Being defended by Jody Mitic, Vassanji's latest novel Nostalgia is currently in the running for Canada Reads 2017, having made it past the first round. Stay tuned for updates and other special finds from our archives this week!

For more throwbacks like this one, visit the CBC Digital Archives.