Dipti Saravanamuttu came to Australia at the age of eleven. From 1972-1994 she lived in Sydney, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) degree from the University of Sydney and has worked as a journalist, scriptwriter and researcher. She has travelled in Asia, was the recipient of the Arthur Macquarie Travelling Scholarship (1989) and in 1988-1991 spent some time as a postgraduate and teacher at The University of London.She moved to Melbourne in 1994.

In her book The Colosseum (p. 78), Saravanamuttu notes that her paternal grandfather, P. Saravanamuttu, was the Rubber and Tea Commissioner and Commodities Commissar for Sri Lanka, during World War II.