Maria Aurora Couto was born in Goa and studied in Dharwar and New Delhi (where she later taught English literature at Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi University). She is the author of the widely acclaimed Goa: A Daughter’s Story and Graham Greene: On the Frontier, and has translated, from Portuguese, A.B. Braganza Pereira’s Ethnography of Goa, Daman and Diu. In 2010 the Government of India honoured her with the Padma Shri for her contributions in literature and education.
She lives in Aldona, a village in North Goa.