Kuki Gallmann was born near Venice and moved to Kenya in 1972 with her husband and young son. Following their deaths, she set up the Gallmann Memorial Foundation to promote new ways of combining development and conservation, and to provide sponsorship for the education of Kenyans. I Dreamed of Africa was first published in 1991 to international acclaim and it became a world-wide bestseller. Her subsequent books, African Nights and Night of the Lions, were also published by Penguin. She lives in Kenya with her daughter and her dogs.