Jhumpa Lahiri was born in London in 1967 to Bengali parents who later moved with her to the United States. She grew up in Rhode Island, received her BA in English literature from Barnard College at Columbia University, and earned her MA in English, MFA, and PhD from Boston University, specializing in Renaissance Studies. She has held prestigious academic positions at Boston University and Rhode Island School of Design and taught at the Creative Writing Program at the Lewis Center (Princeton University) as a Professor of Creative Writing. Currently, she teaches at her alma mater, Barnard College, Columbia University, as the Millicent C. McIntosh Professor of English and Creative Writing.