Nirpal Singh Dhaliwal

Dhaliwal was born in Greenford, London and his parents were first-generation Punjabi immigrants. Dhaliwal was born a Sikh and state-school educated before going on to the University of Nottingham to read English and American literature.[1]

In 2000, while working as a radio journalist for the BBC, Dhaliwal was sent to interview Liz Jones, then editor of Marie Claire. They married in 2002 and divorced in 2007. In her Daily Mail column, Jones admitted to stealing his sperm by retrieving a used condom from the bin in an effort to get pregnant. Dhaliwal wrote “Luckily for me, my little troopers stayed loyal and didn't go to work for her, otherwise I could've found myself a father, emotionally and financially trapped by her for the rest of my life.”[2]

Dhaliwal's first novel Tourism was published in 2006 and received mixed reviews. Described as 'brilliant'[3] in The Daily Telegraph, Julie Burchill thought it was 'touched with genius'.[4]

Dhaliwal currently works as a freelance journalist, based in London, having resided for a while in New Delhi. He writes for The Times, The Guardian, Daily Mail, and the Evening Standard and extensively for the Indian and international press.