Pira Sudham was born in Napo, Burirum, Northeastern Thailand. He spent his childhood in the rice fields on the Korat Plateau, helping his parents and tending a herd of buffaloes. At fourteen he was taken to Bangkok to be a servant to monks. He was also enrolled in school. He supported himself through high school and his first year in Chulalongkorn University by selling souvenirs to tourists before winning a New Zealand government scholarship to Auckland University to study English literature.

His best know book is Monsoon Country which has a sequel called The Force of Karma. Both have been revised under a single title, Shadowed Country. His short story collections are People of Esarn and Tales of Thailand and now the ebook, It is the People.

Pira Sudham now lives back in his village of Napo helping with the schooling and feeding of the many poor kids there.