Tanuja Desai Hidier was born in Boston and studied at Brown University. She has also studied film at the New York Film Academy. As a writer/editor in New York City, she worked on magazines, CD-Rom projects and websites. She was awarded the James Jones First Novel Fellowship Award in 1995. Her first novel, Born Confused, was published in 2002. She is also currently songwriting/recording for a virtual band project, with participating musicians based in Los Angeles and London.