Mulk Raj Anand was born in Peshawar, India, on December 12, 1905. He died on September 28, 2004 in Pune, India, at the age of ninety-eight. Mulk Raj Anand was a renowned writer from India who wrote in English. He was famous for his writings about the poorer class of society in India. He was one of the first writers from India to receive international recognition.

Mulk Raj Anand attended Khalsa College in Amritsar before he moved to England where he was an undergraduate at the University College London. He later graduated from Cambridge University in 1929 with a PhD. During his time in school, he became friends with the members of Bloomsbury Group. Mulk Raj Anand spent time in Geneva, giving lectures a League of Nations’ School of Intellectual Cooperation.

The rigidity of the caste system instigated the family tragedy that led to the launch of Mulk Raj Anand’s career in literature. His first work was a response to his aunt’s suicide after she was exiled from the family for having a meal with a Muslim. His first novel, Untouchable was published in 1935. It is the story of a day in the life of a toilet cleaner that bumps into a member of high society.

Muhammad Shibli Nomani was born in Bindawal Azamgarh on June 3, 1857 to Shaikh Habibullah and Moqeema Khatoon. Although Shah Waliullah influenced him in his thoughts, Shibli Nomani was not in line of the order of the Delhi ulema-sufis of the Naqshbandi. However, he was concerned with reforming the ulema to be effective guides in the Muslim community. Shibli Nomani was a scholar who published and wrote in profusion and taught many young writers. He was a leader in the advancement movement of the language of Urdu to be a vehicle of modern expression. He was as associate teacher at Aligarh College and the Nadwatul-Ulema of Lucknow.

Even though all of his younger brothers attended Aligarh, Shibli Nomani received an education in classic Islam. Maulana Muhammad Farooq Chirayakoti, an outspoken scholar and rival to Sir Syed, was his teacher. This could perhaps offer an explanation of his indecisive relationship with Sir Syed and Aligarh. The connection to Chirayakoti is considerable, giving Shibli Nomani reason to be both repelled and attracted to Aligarh.

In his works in theology, Shibli Nomani highlights both differences and similarities of Sir Sayed’s rationalism. Shibli Nomani believed that religion and science were two separate realms with nothing in common.

Jhumpa Lahiri, whose parents are both immigrants from India, was born Nilanjana Sudeshna on July 11, 1967 in London, England. Her family migrated to the United States of American when she was only three-years-old. Jhumpa Lahiri grew up in Kingston, Rhode Island. Her story, “The Third and Final Continent” is based on her father, who was a librarian at the University of Rhode Island. Her family frequently visited Calcutta, India, because her mother wanted her to grow up familiar with her Bengali heritage.

When she started kindergarten, her teacher began calling her Jhumpa because it was simpler to pronounce than her given name. The incongruity of her identity was the inspiration for the primary character in her novel The Namesake.

Jhumpa Lahiri is a graduate of South Kingstown High School and has a Bachelor’s degree in literature from Barnard College. Jhumpa Lahiri has also received several degrees from Boston University including a Master’s degree in English, a Master’s degree in Creative Writing, a Master’s degree in Comparative Literature as well as a Doctorate in Renaissance Studies. Jhumpa Lahiri also took up a two-year fellowship at the Provincetown’s Fine Arts Work Center. She also taught a creative writing class at Boston University and Rhode Island School of Design.

Anita Desai came into this world on Thursday, June 24, 1937 as Anita Mazumdar. Her mother, Toni Nime was German and her father, D. N. Mazumdar was a Bengali executive from Mussoorie, India. Growing up Anita Desai spoke German when she was at home; when she was away, she spoke Bengali, English, Hindi as well as Urdu. She learned at school how to read and write in English, which became her language of literature. Despite speaking German as a first language, she did not travel to Germany until she became an adult.

Anita Desai attended Queen Mary’s Higher Secondary School of Delhi. She received a Bachelor’s degree in English literature from the University of Delhi Miranda House in 1957. In 1958, she wed a businessman by the name of Ashvin Desai. Together they raised four children. The family traveled on the weekends to Thal located near Alibaug, this became the set of Anita Desai’s novel Village by the Sea.

Her first novel, Cry The Peacock was published in 1963. Her most autobiographical piece, Clear Light of Day, published in 1980 was set in the same time and neighborhood of her childhood. Her most recent work, The Zigzag Way was published in 2004.