Nikita Lalwani is a novelist born in Kota, Rajasthan in 1975[1] and raised in Cardiff, Wales.[2] She studied English at Bristol University[1] and her first book, Gifted, was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize[3] and shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award.[4] She was also nominated as Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year.[5] In June 2008 she won the inaugural Desmond Elliot Prize for Fiction.[6] She donated the £10,000 prize to human rights campaigners, Liberty.[7] Lalwani has also contributed to The Guardian, The New Statesman and The Observer and also recently written for AIDS Sutra,[8] an anthology exploring the lives of people living with HIV/AIDS in India. She lives in North West London.