Stephen Alter is currently Writer-In-Residence at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

He is the author of four acclaimed novels--Renuka, The Godchild, Silk and Steel, and Neglected Lives--and editor of several volumes of non-fiction, including The Penguin Book of Modern Indian Short Stories, Great Indian Hunting Stories and All The Way To Heaven: An American Boyhood In the Himalayas (a memoir about his childhood in India published in 1998 by Henry Holt).

Alter was born in 1956 to American missionaries in the Himalayan resort town of Mussoorie. He spent his boyhood in both India and the United States and has lived and traveled in India off an on for the past 40 years.

Alter's writing has received international praise for his ability to evoke the physical sense of India as well as to convey complex cultural concepts with smoothness and ease.

His latest two books:

Sacred Waters: A Pilgrimage up the Ganges River to the Source of Hindu Culture. This is an account of a pilgrimage taken on foot to the four main sources of the Ganga, India's holiest river. Known as the Char Dham Yatra, the route of this pilgrimage traverses the Garhwal Himalayas from Rishikesh to Yamnotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath. It is a physical journey, involving months of trekking through forested valleys and snow covered mountains. It is also a spiritual journey, taking a man deep into the heart and soul of the ancient religious culture of India.

Amritsar to Lahore: A Journey Across the India-Pakistan Border is a personal account of the lasting effects of Partition on everyday people. Traveling throughout the border region, Alter presents a compelling portrait of this divided land, revealing insights into the tensions and hopes of the people and governments of India and Pakistan.

Steve Alter is a third generation American in India, and happens to be the cousin of Tom Alter, one of India's best known film and stage actors.

Praise for Stephen Alter's writing:
"A beautifully written book. . . . His fine descriptions of the physical setting make this book remarkably engaging."-- Library Journal

"With subtly insistent force, Alter weaves the irony into the dissonance of the old colonial heritage in India."-- Publishers Weekly

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See photos from Nov. 2000 SAJA appearance