Nikita Lalwani is a novelist born in Kota, Rajasthan and raised in Cardiff, Wales. Her work has been translated into sixteen languages. She studied English at Bristol University. Her first book, Gifted (2007), was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award. Lalwani was also nominated as Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year. In June 2008, Lalwani won the inaugural Desmond Elliott Prize for Fiction. She donated the £10,000 prize to human rights campaigners, Liberty.