William Dalrymple is the author of nine books about India and the Islamic world, including award-winning titles such as "City of Djinns"; "White Mughals"; "The Last Mughal"; and "Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India." He recently curated a major show of Mughal art for the Asia Society in New York. His new book, "Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan 1839?42" was published to acclaim by Knopf in February. He writes regularly for the "New Yorker," "the New York Review of Books" and the "Guardian," and is one of the founders and a codirector of the Jaipur Literary Festival. He has honorary doctorates of letters from the universities of St Andrews, Aberdeen, Bradford and Lucknow, and in September took up a visiting fellowship at Princeton. Learn more about Dalrymple and his work at http: //www.williamdalrymple.uk.com/.