Sarayu Srivatsa trained as an architect and city planner at the Madras and Tokyo universities. She was a professor of architecture at Bombay University, the editor of the Indian Architect and Builder Review, and has written extensively on the evolution and growth of cities. Her book, Where the Streets Lead, was published in 1997 and won the JIIA Award.

She also co-authored two books with the late poet and writer Dom Moraes: The Long Strider, and Out of God’s Oven (shortlisted for the Kiriyama Prize). Her first novel, The Last Pretence, was longlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize, and upon its release in the UK (under the title If You Look For Me, I am Not Here), was also included on The Guardian’s Not the Booker Prize longlist.