Nirpal Singh Dhaliwal was born in Greenford in 1974. His parents were first- generation Punjabi immigrants. Dhaliwal was raised a non-practising Sikh and state-school educated before going on to Nottingham University to read English and American literature. In 2000, while working as a radio journalist for the BBC he was sent to interview Liz Jones the then editor of Marie Claire. The two married in 2002. Jones became a columnist for the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday and wrote extensively about her and husband Dhaliwal's relationship. Many of Jones' references to Dhaliwal centred on him "moping at home 'writing a novel'".[1] That novel turned out to be Dhaliwal's first novel Tourism. Reviews for "Tourism" were mixed.

Dhaliwal currently works as a freelance journalist based in London. He writes for The Times, the Guardian, the Daily Mail and the Evening Standard