Amitava Kumar is an Indian writer and journalist who is
Professor of English on the Helen D. Lockwood Chair at Vassar College. Kumar
was born in the city of Arrah in the Indian state of Bihar on 17 March 1963. He
grew up close to his birthplace in Patna, also in Bihar. There he spent his
formative years at St Michael's High School. In India, Kumar earned a
bachelor's degree in Political Science from Hindu College, Delhi University in
1984. He holds two master's degrees in Linguistics and Literature from Delhi
University and Syracuse University respectively. In 1993, he received his
doctoral degree from the Department of Cultural Studies and Comparative
Literature at the University of Minnesota. He lives with his family in
Poughkeepsie, New York.
