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Janet Rizvi, freelance writer and researcher, was brought up in Scotland and graduated with a Ph.D. in history from Cambridge. Married to an Indian Government officer, she spent many years in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Her book Ladakh, Crossroads of High Asia (Oxford University Press, Delhi, 2nd edn. 1996) has been continuously in print for 25 years. She is also author of the highly praised Trans-Himalayan Caravans: Merchant Princes and Peasant Traders in Ladakh (Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1999). As well as writing the chapter "Woven Textiles" in The Crafts of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh (ed. Jaya Jaitly, Mapin, Ahmedabad, 1989), She has contributed articles on the Kashmir shawl to several authoritative reference works: The Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 2004), The Encyclopedia of India (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 2006), and The Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion (forthcoming from Berg Publishers, Oxford). She wrote the chapter "The Asian Trade in Kashmir Shawl" in Textiles from India, The Global Trade (ed. Rosemary Crill, Seagull, Kolkata, 2005).