Harivansh Rai Bachchan was born in 1907,  in a Kayastha family; he was the eldest son of Pratap Narayan Shrivastav and Saraswati Devi. ,He was educated at the Allahbad University and the Banaras Hindu University, then completed his studies from the Cambridge. Harivanshrai`s thesis got him his PhD at Cambridge. He was the second Indian ( some say the first) to get his doctorate in English literature from Cambridge. After returning to India in 1954, he took to teaching and also served at All India Radio, Allahabad.

He has published 75 books, three for children, and also translated Shakespeare`s tragedies into Hindi.

In 1926, at the age of 19, Bachchan married his first wife, Shyama, who was then 14 years old. However she died ten years later in 1936 after a long spell of TB at just 24 years of age. Bachchan again married, Teji Bachchan, in 1941. They had two sons, Amitabh and Ajitabh.

Bachchan was nominated to the Indian Rajya Sabha in 1966 and government gave him the Sahitya Akademi award three years later. In 1976 he was honoured with the Padma Bhushan for his immense contribution to Hindi literature. He was also honoured with the Saraswati Samman for his four volume autobiography, Kya Bhooloon Kya Yaad Karoon, Needa Ka Nirman Phir, Basere Se Door and Dashdwar se Sopan Tak. the Sovietland Nehru Award and the Lotus Award of the Afro-Asian writers` conference, for his unique contribution to the world of letters. But if ever asked to introduce himself, he had a simple introduction: Mitti ka tan, masti ka man, kshan-bhar jivan — mera parichay. (A body of clay, a mind full of play, a moment’s life – that is me.).

Bachchan died on 18 January 2003, at the age of 96, as a result of various respiratory ailments. His wife Teji Bachchan died nearly five years later in December 2007, at the age of 93.