Greta Rana was born in Yorkshire, England and moved to Nepal with her husband Madhukar SJB Rana in 1971. She has written seven novels and seven poetry collections, her last published novel was “Hostage (Speaking Tiger; 2018)”. In 1991, her short, “The Hill” won The Arnsberger Internationale Kurzprosa. Greta Rana is also a founder member of PEN Nepal and a former Chair of International PEN Women Writers’ Committee. Greta Rana has been living in Nepal for more than 39 years and on December 31, 2004, she retired from the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) where she helped establish a publishing and outreach division 24 years ago. Greta’s committed interest in children’s education, especially children whose families cannot afford to send them to school, led to the founding of the “New Shakespeare Wallahs,” an amateur drama group working under the auspices of the Nepal-Britain Society to raise resources for children’s education amongst the poorest communities. Brief periods of residence in Laos and Afghanistan in the late 70s and early 80s, besides her time in Nepal, have given her a unique outlook on what the author refers to as ‘the colonisation by development aid.’ Her new novel “Ghosts in the Bamboo” is broadly plotted around these locales.