ARUNDHATI ROY is the author of the novel, The God of Small Things, for which she was awarded the Booker Prize in 1997. Roy has also published four essay collections: An Ordinary Person''s Guide to Empire, War Talk, Power Politics, and The Cost of Living, and is the subject of The Checkbook and the Cruise Missile: Interviews with Arundhati Roy, edited by David Barsamian. Roy received the 2002 Lannan Award for Cultural Freedom from the Lannan Foundation. She lives in New Delhi, India.