Tania James is an American author and playwright. She was born in India and raised in the United States. She is best known for her debut novel, Atlas of Unknowns, which was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Her other works include the short story collection Aerogrammes and the play The Great Moment. James has been awarded fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the MacDowell Colony, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. She is currently a professor of creative writing at the University of Pittsburgh. Her work has been praised for its lyrical prose and its exploration of identity, family, and the immigrant experience.