Gieve Patel was born in 1940. Princes, his first play, was produced by Theatre Group, Bombay, in 1970. His later plays, Savaksa and Mister Behram, were produced in 1982 and 1987 respectively. He has published three books of verse: Poems (1966), How Do You Withstand, Body (1976) and Mirrored, Mirroring (1991) and his poems have appeared in several anthologies in India and abroad. A well-known painter, with paintings in public and private collections within and outside the country, Gieve Patel has also worked as a medical practitioner in rural and urban India.