Meera Syal was born and brought up in Wolverhampton. She studied English and Drama at Manchester University, where she wrote a play 'One of Us', which won the National Student Drama Award. After University, she worked as an actress at the Royal Court Theatre and was soon commissioned by the BBC to write a three-part series, 'My Sister Wife', a story looking at both a traditional and modern idea of marriage.

Her screenplay, 'Bhaji on the Beach', aroused both praise and criticism from Asian community leaders. Meera co-writes and stars in the BBC2 hit comedy series 'Goodness Gracious Me'. Her first novel, the best-selling 'Anita and Me', won a Betty Trask Award and was shortlisted for the Guardian Fiction Prize. She was awarded an MBE in 1998.

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