Michael Hutt is Professor of Nepali and Himalayan Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. He completed a BA in South Asian Studies (Hindi) in 1980 and a PhD on the history of the Nepali language and its literature in 1984, both at SOAS. In 1987, he returned to SOAS as a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow, and has been engaged in teaching and research relating to Nepal ever since. Hutt was Head of the South Asia Department from 1995-9, and has served as both Associate Dean (2002-4) and Dean (2004-10) of the Faculty of Languages and Cultures. The study of modern and contemporary Nepali literature is Hutt's home ground, and he is well-known as a translator. However, he has also published on Nepali politics, Nepali art and architecture, censorship in the Nepali print media, and the Bhutanese refugee issue. His latest completed work is a book-length biographical study of the Nepali poet Bhupi Sherchan. Hutt's publications include Himalayan Voices: an Introduction to Modern Nepali Literature (1991), Nepal in the Nineties: Versions of the Past, Visions of the Future (1994), Modern Literary Nepali: an Introductory Reader (1997), Unbecoming Citizens: Culture, Nationhood, and the Flight of Refugees from Bhutan(2003) and Himalayan People's War: Nepal's Maoist Rebellion (2004).