Narmala Shewcharan was born in Guyana and studied law before joining the Guyana Chronicle as a journalist. She was subsequently trained in print and broadcast media through a special programme with the University of Guyana.
Her book fictionalises some of her encounters and perceptions during the turbulent 1980s period of the Burnham dictatorship focusing on ordinary people's entanglement in the politics of the times and their efforts to assert their agency. She has a PhD in anthropology from Brunel university and now works as a university lecturer and anthropologist in London. She has published numerous academic articles and a co-edited volume on her anthropological research. She is currently working on a monograph. She continues to write fiction and has recently completed the manuscript, 'Other kinds of days.' She has also written numerous short stories, poems and several plays.