Tapan Chattopadhyay has already made a niche for himself as a writer of Bengali prose and poetry. His earliest published work was a book of poems, Galita Periye (Crossing the Alley), 1977. He has since mostly written prose, occasionally contributing poems to different literary magazines. Recently some of them were compiled in a volume titled Ekta Samay Ashe (A Time Comes).

Though a number of Chattopadhyay's Bengali novels and short stories now have a sizeable readership and have received critical acclaim, some of his original research works based on primary materials are well known and found in almost all important libraries in India. Among them are: The Story of Laibazar- Its Origin and Growth (Firma K.L.M. Pvt. Ltd., Kolkata, 1982), the first-ever history of Calcutta (Kolkata) Police, and Lepchas and Their Heritage ( BR. Publishing Corporation, Delhi, 1990), an immensely readable and informative study of the little known tribe of Sikkim and Darjeeling found on www.amazon.com and other websites also. The first thing that strikes about the author in each of his works is the choice of his subject and the delicate and racy manner with which he treats it.

Chattopadhyay was born on 13 March, 1946, in the old aristocratic family of Pindira situated on the bank of the Jamuna, now in Kalna sub-division of Burdwan district, but erstwhile in Hooghly district. The family lineages extend to famous litterateurs like Kshirode Prasad Vidyavinode ( Chattopadhyay) and Bamkim Chandra Chatterjee. The author's paternal great grand-mother was a descendant of the celebrated Pundit Shobhakar and Baneswar Vidyalankar (Bhattacharya) of Guptipara (Hooghly district). Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee (originally from the nearby village Balagar) married her sister.

The author's father Phanindra Nath settled down in Guptipara after retirement from the government service. Chattopadhyay's childhood was spent in the village in very ordinary circumstances and he came to Kolkata for studying English literature first in Scottish Church College and then in Calcutta University. His mother Baruna (her maiden surname was Roy, actually Bandyopadhyay), though her parents were settled in Bhubaneswar and Puri, also belonged originally to Hooghly district. She was a descendent of the eldest son of Krishna Kanta Roy of Radhanagar ; Krishna Kanta's youngest son was the grand­father of Raja Ram Mohan Roy.

From the beginning, Chattopadhyay showed inclination for literature and history. He was the English editor of the Scottish Church College magazine and later became the joint editor of the University journal Ekata. After completing his university studies, he had a brief stint in teaching and research. In the mean time Chattopadhyay appeared at the competitive examinations and was placed in the Indian Police Service (IPS) in 1970. His job eventually turned out to be very peripatetic on his own volition and he had the exciting experiences of knowing places and people in Tripura, Nagaland, Manipur, northern India,Sikkim, Orissa and different parts of West     Bengal. He had opportunity also of visiting Greece, Italy, France, England and the USA. His varied experiences have inexorably enriched his writing.