Upamanyu Chatterjee was born in 1959. He joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1983. his published works include a few short stories and three novels—English, August: An Indian Story (1988), The Last Burden (1993) and The Mammaries of the Welfare State (2000), which won the Sahitya Akademi Award for writing in English.

Upamanyu Chatterjee is married and has two daughters.