Our Students — Alums — Sohrab Fracis

Sohrab Fracis

Sohrab Homi Fracis received his M.A. degree in English from the University of North Florida in 1993. As he tells it, "After several years as a programmer-analyst contracted to Fortune 100 companies such as Ford Motor Company in Detroit, I heard my calling to become a writer. I studied for an M.A. in English, emphasis in creative writing, at the University of North Florida, where I now teach creative writing, passing on my knowledge and experience to aspiring writers."

Sohrab is the first Indian author to win the Iowa Short Fiction Award, described by the New York Times Book Review as "among the most prestigious literary prizes America offers." The University of Iowa Press published his award-winning book, Ticket to Minto: Stories of India and America, in 2001.

A sampling of praise for Ticket to Minto:

"A reminder of how satisfying the short story form can be...demonstrate[s] sophistication, subtlety and complexity...reflect[s] a wide range of influences—from the somber realism of Somerset Maugham to the hip, colloquial humor of Junot Diaz...the work of an impressive new talent." — Publishers Weekly

"Stunning in its breadth and scope of language and description...a fresh voice in South Asian fiction....One can grow tired of Rushdie wannabes, mother-in-law stereotypes and village parodies. Fracis's writing is brutally honest, exposing sinew and nerves and getting at the heart of the matter." — India Currents

Among his other honors and accomplishments, Sohrab has won an Individual Artist Fellowship in Literature/Fiction from the Florida Endowment for the Arts in 1999; the Walter E. Dakin Fellowship in Fiction at the Sewanee Writers' Conference in Sewanee, Tennessee, in 2002; and a Key West Literary Seminar Scholarship to the 22nd annual seminar in Key West, Florida, "Crossing Borders: The Immigrant Voice in American Literature," in 2004.

You can follow Sohrab as writer and teacher by visiting his website at http://www.fracis.com.