Pico Iyer is a British-born essayist and novelist long based in both California and Japan. He is the author of numerous books about crossing cultures, among them Video Night in Kathmandu", The Lady and the Monk, "and The Global Soul". An essayist for Time" since 1986, he also publishes regularly in Harper s", The New York Review of Books", The New York Times", and many other publications across the globe.