Gavin was born on 9 August 1941 in Mussoorie in the foothills of the Himalayas. Her Indian father and English mother had met as teachers in Iran. She learned to describe herself as "half and half". She says online that from her mixed background "I inherited two rich cultures which ran side by side throughout my life, and which always made me feel I belonged to both countries." She first visited England when she was six and settled there when she was 11. As an adult she worked in the music department of the BBC before becoming a writer. She wrote her first book, The Magic Orange Tree and Other Stories, in 1979. After her first child was born, she became aware that there were few children's books reflecting the experience of multi-racial children. She has also written books reflecting her childhood in India, particularly her Surya trilogy. Gavin is a patron of the Shakespeare Schools Festival, a charity that enables schoolchildren across the UK to perform Shakespeare in professional theatres. Gavin settled in Stroud, Gloucestershire before 1990 and was still living there in 2009. and in 2012. In 2016, Gavin was one of the founders of the Stroud Book Festival, together with Cindy Jefferies.
Writer
The Surya trilogy – The Wheel of Surya, The Eye of the Horse and The Track of the Wind – is a family saga following two generations of Indian Sikhs and showing the impact of the British Empire and the Partition of India on their lives. All three books made the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize shortlist; The Wheel of Surya was special runner-up. Coram Boy won the 2000 Whitbread Prize as Children's Book of the Year. It is set in the 18th century, based on the Foundling Hospital established in London by sea Captain Thomas Coram. According to a local newspaper, the story "has links to Gloucestershire." Coram Boy has been adapted for the stage by Helen Edmundson and produced by the Royal National Theatre in 2005–2006 - garnering Edmundson an Olivier Award – as well on Broadway in 2007. Three Indian Goddesses and Three Indian Princesses are collections of short stories based around Indian legends. Nine other short stories were collected as The Magic Orange Tree and Other Stories. Grandpa Chatterji is a series for younger children, named after its first book, which was adapted for television in 1997. Other books in the series are Grandpa Chatterji's Third Eye and Grandpa's Indian Summer. The first book made the Smarties Prize shortlist for reader ages 6–8. Jamila Gavin has also written The Robber Baron's Daughter, Forbidden Memories, I Want to be An Angel, Kamla and Kate, Someone's Watching, Someone's Waiting, The Hideaway and The Wormholers.
