R K Narayan (1906-2001) was a famous Indian author. He, along with Mulk Raj Anand and Raja Rao, was among the founding fathers of fiction in English in India. He set most of his short stories and novels in a fictional South Indian village called Malgudi.

Narayan wrote his first novel, Swami and Friends, in the year 1930. It was finally published in 1935. It was followed by many memorable works including The Bachelor of Arts (1937), The English Teacher (1945) and The Guide (1958). The Guide fetched him the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1960.