Kamila Shamsie was born in 1973 in Pakistan. She is the author of four previous novels: Kartography (both shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize), Salt and Saffron, Broken Verses and Burnt Shadows (shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction). In 1999 she received the Prime Minister’s Award for Literature and in 2004 the Patras Bokhari Award – both awarded by the Pakistan Academy of Letters. Kamila Shamsie lives in London.