Achala Moulik went to schools in Washington, New York and London where her diplomat father was posted. Her mother taught her and her sister Bengali literature. She graduated from London University with the B.Sc. (Econ) degree. In the Indian Administrative Service she served in numerous capacities: Director General, Archaeological Survey of India and Education Secretary, Government of India, when the education programme ‘Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’ was approved. Achala’s civil servant husband encouraged her literary endeavours. She has published books on political & cultural history, novels, and a play Pushkin’s Last Poem which was performed in Moscow and St. Petersburg. She was invited to Moscow to receive the prestigious Pushkin Medal from the Russian President in 2011. She received the Sergei Yesenin Prize in 2013 from the Russian Ministry of Culture.