Born in Calcutta, and spent his childhood in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Northern India. He studied in Delhi, Oxford, and Egypt and taught at various Indian and American universities. Author of a travel book and three acclaimed novels. Ghosh has also written for GRANTA, THE NEW YORKER, THE NEW YORK TIMES, and THE OBSERVER. He lives in New York City with his wife and two children.Jean Allman teaches African History and directs the Center for African Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She is editor of Fashioning Africa: Power and the Politics of Dress (IUP, 2004).John Parker teaches African History at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He is… author of Making the Town: Ga State and Society in Early Colonial Accra.