Manjula Lal is the author of hugely popular, In Search of Ram Rajya, a non-fiction based on the political history of Uttar Pradesh. She has also authored a fiction book titled, That's News To Me that explores the changing face of Indian print media over the last three decades. Born in Ballia, a remote village of Uttar Pradesh where her father was a district magistrate, the author spent 11 years in a convent boarding school in the hill station of Nainital, now in Uttarakhand. Thanks to her father's job in the IAS, she lived in many parts of UP, including Allahabad, Hamirpur and Jhansi. After graduating from Isabella Thoburn College, Lucknow, she went to New Delhi for her Master’s in political science from Jawaharlal Nehru University. During two semesters in Pennsylvania State University as a teaching assistant, she was the first columnist of foreign origin for the local newspaper. She returned to Delhi to pursue a career in journalism that spans three decades, including Patriot, Delhi Mid-Day, Indian Express, Pioneer, Economic Times, Swagat magazine and Tehelka. In between, she also had a one-year stint with Penguin Books India. She is now works as a senior editor with The Statesman, New Delhi. Among her other accomplishments & achievements she is lauded for her contribution to conceptualising & initiating the Delhi Lit Fest in New Delhi in 2013 which has now become an eagerly awaited annual event , since she strongly believes that a vibrant capital city like New Delhi deserved its own LIT FEST . She has organised numerous world class book launches / book discussions with well known authors and publishers, among them PM Narendra Modi's book at the hands of Ministers Arun Jaitely & Prakash Javdekar and several international conferences , seminars, art events & award functions as well .The annual ICUNR International Women's Day awards being hosted by her since the last one decade are a coveted & eagerly anticipated event in New Delhi's calendar. She is a recipient of several Awards & accolades foremost among them being 'Ambassador of Peace ' from the Peace Federation at Geneva & the PRIDE of INDIA last month in the category of 'Outstanding Woman Achiever '. An alumnus of Delhi University with a 1st class Master's degree in Linguistics , she speaks several languages and is a superlative communicator .