Vikram Seth is an Indian poet, novelist, travel writer, librettist, children's writer, biographer and memoirist. Vikram Seth was born on 20 June 1952 in a Punjabi family to Leila and Prem Seth in Calcutta . His family lived in many cities including the Bata Shoe Company town of Batanagar, Danapur near Patna, and in London. His younger brother, Shantum, leads Buddhist meditational tours. His younger sister, Aradhana, is a film-maker married to an Austrian diplomat, and has worked on Deepa Mehta's movies Earth and Fire. Seth spent part of his youth in London but returned to his homeland in 1957.