Anita Desai was born to a Bengali father, D. N. Mazumdar, and a German mother, Toni Nime, in Mussoorie on June 24, 1937. Her mixed parentage gave her exposure to many languages, such as German, Hindi, English, Urdu, and Bengali. and her cultural heritage gave a unique shape to her writings, which she chose to write in English. Desai received her early education at St. Queen Mary’s convent school in Delhi and earned her B.A. in English Literature from Miranda House, Delhi University, in 1957. Married to Ashvin Desai, she is a mother of four children, including the Booker Prize winner, Kiran Desai. Presently, she lives in the United States and is the John E. Burchard Professor of Writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston.