Jhumpa Lahiri was born in London. She took a BA in English literature at Barnard College in 1989 and several graduate degrees at Boston University, including a PhD in Renaissance Studies. Her fiction often explores the Indian-immigrant experience in America.
In 2012 she moved to Rome and began writing in Italian. She taught creative writing at Princeton University from 2015 to 2022 and since 2022 has directed the creative writing program at Barnard College.