Mulk Raj Anand was born in Peshawar in 1905 and educated at the universities of Punjab and London. After earning his PhD in Philosophy in 1929, Anand began writing for T.S. Eliot's magazine Criterion as well as books on cooking and art. Recognition came with the publication of his first two novels, Untouchable and Coolie. These were followed by a succession of novels, including his well-known trilogy The Village (1939), Across the Black Waters (1940) and The Sword and the Sickle (1942). By the time he returned to India in 1946, he was easily the best-known Indian writer abroad. He founded and edited the fine arts magazine Marg, and has been the recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award, several honorary doctorates and other distinctions. Anand died in Pune in September 2004. Saros Cowasjee is Professor Emeritus of the University of Regina in Canada. His published works include the novels Goodbye to Elsa (1974) and My Dear Maura (2005), critical studies on Sean O'Casey and Mulk Raj Anand, and several anthologies of fiction, including The Oxford Anthology of Raj Stories (2001) and Mulk Raj Anand Omnibus (2004). His latest is a collection of his own fiction, called Strange Meeting and Other Stories.