Amol Titus was born in Jaipur, India, in 1967. The son of a Columbia University educated journalist father and an educationist mother, he started writing from an early age and recalls having produced his first creative piece at the age of five. What began as a hobby soon blossomed into a passion which he sustained throughout his education at St Columba’s School, St Stephen’s College (both in Delhi) and XLRI Jamshedpur where he earned a management degree.

It was at St Stephen’s College where he completed a BA (Honours) Degree in English that he got an excellent exposure to the literary greats and the writing styles and movements they pioneered. The well respected faculty at the College also exposed him to the discipline of literary criticism. He was a University gold medalist and was ranked first in both St Stephen’s College and Delhi University upon completion of the program. In recognition of this achievement he was also awarded the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru scholarship for post graduate studies.

During the three year program he developed a particular liking for William Shakespeare and Samuel Beckett amongst playwrights, William Blake, TS Elliot and WH Auden amongst poets and Thomas Hardy, Joseph Conrad and John Steinbeck as novelists and Franz Kafka as a short story/novella specialist. The great Kafka, who was an insurance salesman by day, also holds a special inspiration for Amol as he seeks to balance his “creative vigor with corporate rigors”.

Amongst more recent writers he admires the works of William Golding, VS Naipaul and JM Coetzee. He finds the contemporary writing movements in China, India, Australia, Africa and Indonesia fascinating and enjoys reading authors whose works are pushing the boundaries and stereotypes that have hitherto characterized or limited these movements. He hopes his own works can in some meaningful way also contribute towards the creative churnings emanating from contemporary India and Indonesia.

During his school and college days he recalls that his “journalistic genes” were nurtured by a conducive environment that included encouraging parents and teachers, access to a variety of books and his association with the editorial boards of the in-house publications The Columban (St Columba’s School), The Conch (St Stephen’s College) and The Excelsior (at the Xaviers Management Institute). He started contributing articles on a freelance basis to local dailies and has continued this interest with his monthly column for The Jakarta Post and Tempo which are preeminent journalistic institutions in ASEAN/Indonesia.

After earning a management degree from XLRI in 1990, where he did a dissertation in Services Management, Amol embarked on a career in management. His working career took him to Indonesia in the aftermath of the Asian Financial crisis in 1997/98 and has been living in Jakarta since 1998 currently heading IndonesiaWISE, an international management consulting company. He regards his experience in the country during “its second birth” fascinating and his extensive travels within the country and exposure to developmental and environmental issues first hand continue to further shape his creative sensibilities. As during his school and college days he has maintained his passion for writing which he considers intrinsic to his work-life balance. His writing talents have also introduced him to an array of Indonesian writers, artists and journalists who have offered him perspectives and insights that he would not have otherwise experienced or been exposed to and he regards these as a special blessing.