Author and visual artist Anita Rau Badami was born in India and emigrated to Canada in 1991. Her third novel, Can You Hear the Nightbird Call?, was longlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the Orange Prize for Fiction and she received the Marian Engel Award for a female writer in mid-career.

Badami lives in Montreal, where she is pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts while working on her next book.

Her second novel, The Hero's Walk, was defended by Vinay Virmani on Canada Reads 2016.