Raja Rao (1908-2006) was born in Hassan, in what is now Narnataka in South India. Though his father taught Kannada at the college where he worked, Rao studied in France for his post-graduate studies and most of his publications were written in the English language. His first stories began appearing in various magazines and journals in 1933, and he published his first book in 1938. Upon his return to India in 1939, Rao became involved in the nationalist movement emerging there. From 1966-1983, he relocated back to the United States and taught Philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin.