About the author
Stephen Alter has published fifteen books of fiction
and non-fiction. He was born in Mussoorie, India, where he
currently lives and writes. For ten years he taught creative
writing at MIT and, before that, he was director of the
writing program at the American University in Cairo. He
has received numerous honours for his writing, including
fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the East-
West Centre in Hawaii, and the Fulbright Program.
