Navtej Sarna was born in Jalandhar, India. After studying Law at Delhi University, he joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1980.

He has served as a diplomat in Moscow, Warsaw, Thimphu, Geneva,
Tehran, Washington DC and, most recently, as India's Foreign Office Spokesman in New Delhi.

His first novel "We Weren't Lovers Like That" was published by Penguin India in 2003 and has been translated into Arabic and Hindi. 

He is also the author of two non-fiction works- "The Book of Nanak" (Viking 2003) and "Folk Tales of Poland" (Sterling 1991). His short stories have been broadcast over the BBC World Service and published in UK and India. He contributes regularly to the Times Literary Supplement, The Hindu and other journals.