Khal Torabully was born in Port Louis, the capital city of Mauritius, in 1956 to Indian Trinidadian parents. From childhood, he was exposed to multiple languages and cultures, which enabled him to learn languages like Creole, French, Bhojpuri, Arabic, Chinese, and their culture. He left Mauritius for Lyon when he was 20, to study comparative literature for his master’s degree, and earned his doctorate in Semiology of Poetics in 1994. During this period, he got interested in the writings of authors who advocated intertextualities, such as T. S. Eliot, Julia Kristeva, and Roland Barthes. Later, he contributed to the forming of a study group, Groupe d’Etudes et de Recherches sur les Globalisations (GERM). He has also contributed to UNESCO’s site policies through the Aapravasi Ghat in Mauritius. He has authored more than two dozen books, in the fields of poetry, cultural theory, and filmmaking.