Ruskin Bond is known for his signature simplistic and witty writing style. He is the author of several best-selling short stories, novellas, collections, essays and children's books; and has contributed a number of poems and articles to various anthologies and magazines. At the age of twenty-three, he won the prestigious John Llewellyn Rhys prize for his first novel, the Room on the Roof. He also received the Padma Shri in 1999, Lifetime Achievement Award from the Delhi government in 2012 and the Padma Bhushan in 2014. Born in 1934, Ruskin Bond grew up in Jamnagar, Shimla, New Delhi and Dehradun. Apart from three years in the UK, he has spent all his life in India, and now lives in Landour, Mussoorie, with his adopted family.