Tania Rachel James was born in Chicago, Illinois to Indian Malayali Christian parents from Kottayam district in Kerala, India.

According to James, her father has "always been interested in a broad array of writers, from Conan Doyle to Camus to Garcia Marquez, plus he has a wicked comic timing.

She enjoyed horror fiction and writers Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, Ray Bradbury and Stephen King as a child.

She also stated The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy an "incredible book".

"Girl Marries Ghost" a serialized short story in The Louisville Courier-Journal.

It was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and longlisted for the Financial Times Oppenheimer Fund Emerging Voices Award.

The work of fiction follows a Mysorean wood carver and a French clockmaker who created the tiger and follows them long after Tipu Sultan is killed in a battle with the English.

[7] Tania James lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband Vivek Maru and son.

She teaches creative writing at the MFA program at George Mason University.