[1][2][3] Saksena read English literature at the University of Allahabad, obtaining her undergraduate, master's and doctorate degrees.

[7] In 1964, Usha Saksena Nilsson joined the University of Wisconsin, Madison, to teach Indian Literature and the Hindi language in the South Asian Studies department.

[10] Nilsson prepared several advanced textbooks for Hindi at the behest of the United States Department of Education, which were used at various universities across the country.

Some escape only to waste their opportunities, some behave selfishly towards hapless spouses (Maan Aur Hath (1953)), some end up lonely (Chhutti Ka Din (Holiday, 1969)), others gain a modicum of happiness (Phir Vasant Aaya (Spring returns, 1961)), but all somehow pick themselves up and go on with life.

[3] From January 1989, Nilsson began to broadcast weekly bulletins on life in Wisconsin as part of the BBC's Letters from America series.