James Meek was born in London in 1962 and grew up in Dundee. His novel The People's Act of Love won the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize, the SAC Book of the Year Award, was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize and has been published in more than thirty countries. His novel We Are Now Beginning our Descent won the Prince Maurice Prize. He is the author of two other novels and two collections of short stories. His journalism has won a number of British and international awards. He lives in London.