The Author

Owi Nandi, son of an Indian father and a Swiss mother, was born in 1966 in Wettingen, Switzerland. He discovered his great love for nature and philosophy early, which continually shines through in his written work. The author is married to Annette Nandi, a kindergarten teacher with great passion for drawing. Owi Nandi studied botany, zoology, and biomathematics in Zurich. In 1997, he completed his doctorate at the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Zurich (his PhD included a comprehensive morphological analysis of flowering plants under the inclusion of molecular biological data, published in renowned journals of botanical science). Owi pursued his studies in phytochemistry, land plant phylogeny, and pharmacology. Together with nature photographer Thomas Marent, he has authored many scientific and popular articles. Owi Nandi was awarded with a lyric award of the National Library of the German Poem (Nationalbibliothek des Deutschsprachigen Gedichtes) in 1998. He ranked within the final winners in several contests on the Internet, such as in leserkreis.de, niederngasse.com, poetry.com, Noblehouse Publishers and voicesnet.org. Owi's English poems will be printed in early 2005 with an American publisher.

Hobbies of the author include: ornithology, Chinese medical herbs, traveling, linguistics, and Greek music. The author is currently working as a scientific expert in the field of systematic identification and toxicology of Chinese and Indian medicinal herbs with a renowned small Swiss company. Owi is also interested in dancing, healthy cooking, wines, human evolution, philosophy, and medicine.