“He told me he was working as an interpreter in a doctor's office in Brookline, Massachusetts, where I was living at the time, and he was translating for a doctor who had a number of Russian patients. On my way home, after running into him, I just heard this phrase in my head.”

British-American author

Jhumpa Lahiri is a British-American author known for her short stories, novels, and essays. She writes in English and, more recently, in Italian. Her work spans fiction and nonfiction, and she is especially associated with concise, carefully observed prose. Alongside her English-language writing, she has also published in Italian, broadening the language of her literary work.