Poet and critic, Adil Jussawalla was born on 8 April 1940, in Mumbai and educated at Cathedral and John Connon School. He spent the years between 1957 and 1970 in England. He studied architecture at Architectural Association School of Architecture, London, 1957-58. Later, he earned a master’s degree in English at University of Oxford in 1964 and taught English at a language school until 1969. Thereafter, he returned to Mumbai becoming a lecturer in English language and literature at St. Xavier’s College, 1972-1975.

Jussawalla has been an Honorary Fellow at the International Writing Program in Iowa (1976). Subsequently, he served as the book review editor at The Indian Express from 1980-81 and literary editor of The Express Magazine in 1980-82. In 1987, he served as the literary editor for Debonair magazine where he was later promoted to editor in 1989, before he returned to his writing career. As a translator, he has translated several works by Gulam Mohammed Sheikh. He is also a co-founding member of “Clearing House”, a poet’s publishing co-operative.

He has written two books of poetry, Land’s End (1962) and Missing Person (1972); edited a seminal anthology New Writing in India (1974); and co-edited an anthology of Indian prose in English Statements (1977). Among his more recent works include: The Right Kind of Dog (2013); Maps for a Mortal Moon: Essays and Entertainment (2014); and I Dreamt a Horse Fell from the Sky (2015). In 2014, Jussawalla was presented with the Sahitya Akademi Award for his book of poetry Trying to Say Goodbye.