Award-winning author and poet, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is widely known for her novels, Sister of My Heart, The Mistress of Spices, The Vine of Desire and Queen of Dreams. Translated into 11 languages, including Dutch, Hebrew and Japanese, her other writings include two prize-winning short story collections, two volumes of poetry, and her novels for young children. Among the awards and citations she has are the O. Henry Prize, two Pushcart Prizes, and the American Book Award. Born in India, she currently lives in Texas where she teaches creative writing at the University of Houston.