The Hundred-Foot Journey is Mr. Morais’s debut novel about a lowly Indian chef who conquers the elite world of French haute cuisine, published by the Simon & Schuster imprint, Scribner. First published in short form in the fall of 2008, by HarperCollins India, the expanded version of The Hundred-Foot Journey has since been acquired in 20 territories across the globe and become an international bestseller. The Hundred-Foot Journey is in active film development.
An early extract of The Hundred-Foot Journey was a semifinalist in the 2004 William Faulkner Creative Writing Competition, while Mr. Morais’s short story, “Confessions of An Aerophobe,” was short-listed for Britain’s Ian St. James Award and published in the literary magazine, Acclaim. His second novel, Buddhaland Brooklyn, is about a Buddhist priest sent across the ocean to build a temple in an Italian neighborhood in New York City, and will be published by Scribner in July, 2012.
Mr. Morais is a Contributing Editor at Barron’s, America’s premier finance magazine, and writes for its lively personal affairs magazine, Penta. Prior to Barron’s, Mr. Morais worked for Forbes magazine for 25 years. His brief at Forbes allowed him to write on any subject he chose and to travel the world. He joined Forbes in 1984 as a Reporter in New York.
An American born in Portugal and raised in Switzerland, Mr. Morais has lived most of his life overseas, returning to the U.S. in late 2003. He was stationed in London for 17 years as Forbes’ European Correspondent (1986 to 1989), Senior European Correspondent (1991 to 1998), and European Bureau Chief (1998 to 2003.) He wrote numerous cover stories for Forbes, from billionaire profiles to corporate dissections, but he was best known for unusual business stories on everything from the hashish entrepreneurs of Holland, to the ship breakers of India, to the human organ traders of China. Mr. Morais’s news-making political interviews have been with the likes of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and the Czech Republic’s Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus.
Mr. Morais has won six nominations and three awards from the London-based Business Journalist of the Year Awards, the industry standard for international business coverage.
Mr. Morais started his career in New York as a news intern for the PBS TV program, The MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour, and eventually rose to selling freelance film features to The New York Times. Mr. Morais is the author of the unauthorized biography, Pierre Cardin: The Man Who Became a Label (Bantam Press,) a book that grew out of a Forbes cover story and was published in 1991 to critical acclaim: “This is not a hagiography; neither is it a hatchet job. He has caught the essence of the man.” (Financial Times.) “There is extraordinary, often startling information throughout this book but the pleasure is in the writing. I hope Morais is working on a second book.” (Sunday Telegraph.) “Thorough, excellently researched, racy and entertaining.” (International Herald Tribune.)
While he was in the UK, Mr. Morais appeared regularly on Sky News, BBC News, ITV News, and various radio stations, including the influential “Today” show on the BBC’s Radio 4. In the U.S., his work has led to an editorial credit on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” plus appearances on Ted Koppel’s “Nightline,” ABC, CNN, and various NPR radio stations.
Mr. Morais is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and lives in Philadelphia with his wife and daughter.
