Vikas Swarup (born 22 June 1961) is a retired Indian diplomat and writer. He retired from the

Indian Foreign Service The Indian Foreign Service (IFS) is the diplomatic service and a central civil service of the Government of India under the Ministry of External Affairs. The Foreign Secretary is the head of the service. Vinay Mohan Kwatra is the 34th and the ...

as the Secretary (West) at the

Ministry of External Affairs, India The Ministry of External Affairs (abbreviated as MEA; hi, विदेश मंत्रालय, Videśa Mantrālaya, translit-std=ISO) of India is the government agency responsible for implementing Indian foreign policy. The Ministry of Ext ...

on 30 June 2021 and has previously served as High Commissioner of India in Canada and has been the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs. He was best known as the author of the novel '' Q & A'', adapted in film as ''

Slumdog Millionaire ''Slumdog Millionaire'' is a 2008 British drama film that is a loose adaptation of the novel '' Q & A'' (2005) by Indian author Vikas Swarup. It narrates the story of 18-year-old Jamal Malik from the Juhu slums of Mumbai. Starring Dev Pa ...

'', the winner of Best Film for the year 2009 at the

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

Golden Globe Awards The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...

and

BAFTA Awards The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cere ...

. Swarup joined the

in 1986 and served in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

in various Indian diplomatic missions. His other novels are '' Six Suspects'' and '' The Accidental Apprentice''. In April 2015, he was appointed as the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs of India to head its Public Diplomacy divisions at

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Hous ...

, succeeding

Syed Akbaruddin Syed Akbaruddin is a retired Indian civil servant from 1985 batch of the Indian Foreign Service and served as India's permanent representative at the United Nations at New York from January 2016 to April 2020. He had previously served as off ...

. In December 2019, Swarup took charge as Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs, looking after relations with Europe, Central Asia as well as the United Nations system.

Early life and education

Swarup was born in 1961 in the historic Indian city,

Prayagraj Allahabad (), officially known as Prayagraj, also known as Ilahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi (Benares). It is the admini ...

in a family of lawyers. He did his schooling at Boys' High School & College, Allahabad and pursued further studies at

Allahabad University , mottoeng = "As Many Branches So Many Trees" , established = , type = Public , chancellor = Ashish Chauhan , vice_chancellor = Sangita Srivastava , head_label ...

Psychology Psychology is the science, scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immens ...

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

and

Philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...

Diplomatic career

Swarup is a career diplomat and joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1986. He has served in different capacities in New Delhi and in India's missions abroad including his last assignment as High Commissioner of India to Canada followed by the post of the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs. He also served in

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

, Washington D.C.,

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...

, London,

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foothi ...

and as Consul General in Osaka-Kobe, Japan.

Writing career

''Q & A''

Swarup's

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...

, '' Q & A'', tells the story of how a penniless waiter in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

becomes the biggest quiz show winner in history. Critically acclaimed in India and abroad, this international best-seller has been translated into 43 different languages. It was shortlisted for the Best First Book by the

Commonwealth Writers' Prize Commonwealth Foundation presented a number of prizes between 1987 and 2011. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best ...

and won South Africa's

Exclusive Books Boeke Prize The Exclusive Books Boeke Prize is a book prize which was awarded in South Africa from 1995 to 2012. Award The award was loosely modelled on the United Kingdom's Booker Prize, and sponsored by Exclusive Books. Although ''boeke'' is an Afrikaans ...

in 2006, as well as the Prix Grand Public at the 2007 Paris Book Fair. It was voted winner of the Best Travel Read (Fiction) at the Heathrow Travel Product Award 2009. A BBC radio series based on the book won the Gold Award for Best Drama at the 2008

Sony Radio Academy Awards The Radio Academy Awards, started in 1983, were the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. For most of their existence, they were run by ZAFER Associates, but in latter years were brought under the control of The Radio Academy ...

and the 2008 IVCA Clarion Award.

Harper Collins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Corp ...

brought out the audio book, read by

Kerry Shale Kerry Shale is a Canadian actor and writer based in London, England. Filmography Film Television Video games References External links * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shale, Kerry Living people 20th-century British male actors 20th-century Ca ...

, which won the Audie for best fiction audio book of the year.

Film4 Film4 is a British free-to-air television network owned by Channel Four Television Corporation launched on 1 November 1998, devoted to broadcasting films. While its standard-definition channel is available on Freeview and Freesat platforms ...

of the UK had optioned the movie rights and the movie titled ''

'', directed by

Danny Boyle Daniel Francis Boyle (born 20 October 1956) is an English director and producer. He is known for his work on films including '' Shallow Grave'', '' Trainspotting'' and its sequel '' T2 Trainspotting'', '' The Beach'', ''28 Days Later'', '' S ...

, was first released in the US to great critical acclaim. It won the People's Choice Award at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...

and three awards (Best Film, Best Director and Most Promising Newcomer) at the

British Independent Film Awards The British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) is an organisation that celebrates, supports and promotes British independent cinema and filmmaking talent in United Kingdom. Nominations for the annual awards ceremony are announced in early November, ...

2008. The

National Board of Review The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered an early harbinger of the film awards season that culminat ...

picked ''Slumdog Millionaire'' as the best film of 2008. The movie swept five awards out of its six nominations at the

Critics' Choice Awards The Critics' Choice Movie Awards (formerly known as the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award) is an awards show presented annually by the American-Canadian Critics Choice Association (CCA) to honor the finest in cinematic achievement. Writ ...

, and all four nominations awarded at the

including best director, picture, screenplay and score, and seven

. It received ten

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

nominations of which it won eight, including Best Picture and Best Director. From '' The NY Times'' report: " ough it had no actors nominated for prizes, t alsoswept many awards other than those on the top line, including prizes for cinematography, sound mixing, score and film editing. ''Slumdogs eight Oscars was the largest total won by a single film since '' The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King'' won 11 in 2004." The film was released in the UK on 9 January 2009 and in India on 23 January with William Losch.

''Six Suspects''

Swarup's second novel '' Six Suspects'', published by Transworld, was released on 28 July 2008 and has been translated into more than 30 languages. The US edition was published by

Minotaur Books St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan, New York City, in the Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishers, bringing to the public some 700 titles a year under si ...

in 2009. It was optioned for a film by the BBC and Starfield productions and John Hodge, who has been commissioned to write the screenplay.

''The Accidental Apprentice''

Swarup's third novel is '' The Accidental Apprentice'', published by Simon & Schuster (UK) in 2013.

Other works

Swarup's short story "A Great Event" was published in ''The Children's Hours: Stories of Childhood'', an anthology of stories about childhood to support

Save the Children The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organization established in the United Kingdom in 1919 to improve the lives of children through better education, health care, and economic ...

and raise awareness for its fight to end violence against children. Swarup has participated in the Oxford Literary Festival, the

Turin International Book Fair The Turin International Book Fair ( it, Salone Internazionale del Libro di Torino) is Italy's largest trade fair for books, held annually in mid-May in Turin, Italy. Founded in 1988 as Book Showroom ( it, Salone del Libro, links=no), it is one of ...

, the Auckland Writers' Conference, the

Sydney Writers' Festival The Sydney Writers' Festival is an annual literary festival held in Sydney, with the inaugural festival taking place in 1997. The 2020 event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. The festival's interim artistic director since ...

, the

Kitab Festival Kitab is an annual international festival of literature, poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as ...

in New Delhi, the

St. Malo Saint-Malo (, , ; Gallo: ; ) is a historic French port in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany, on the English Channel coast. The walled city had a long history of piracy, earning much wealth from local extortion and overseas adventures. In 1944, the All ...

International Book & Film Festival in France, the 'Words on Water' Literary Festival at the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( or ). The university ...

in Johannesburg, the

Jaipur Literature Festival The Jaipur Literature Festival, or JLF, is an annual literary festival which takes place in the Indian city of Jaipur each year in the month of January. It was founded in 2006. It is the world's largest free literary festival. The Diggi Palace ...

in India, the Hay-on-Wye Festival in Wales and the Franschhoek Literary Festival in South Africa. In 2009 he participated in the 33rd

Cairo International Film Festival The Cairo International Film Festival ( ar, مهرجان القاهرة السينمائي الدولي) is an annual internationally accredited film festival held in Cairo Opera House. It was established in 1976 and has taken place every year si ...

as a jury member for the International Competition for Feature Digital Films. He has written for ''TIME'', Newsweek, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'', ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'' (UK), ''Outlook'' magazine (India) and ''

Libération ''Libération'' (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. Initially positioned on the far-left of France' ...

'' (France). Vikas Swarup gives many motivational talks at institutions across the world.

Recognition

On 21 September 2010, the

University of South Africa The University of South Africa (UNISA), known colloquially as Unisa, is the largest university system in South Africa by enrollment. It attracts a third of all higher education students in South Africa. Through various colleges and affiliates, U ...

(UNISA) conferred the degree of Doctor of Literature & Philosophy (

honoris causa An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

) on Swarup at a graduation ceremony in Pretoria. On June 18, 2020, Montreal-based Concordia University conferred an Honorary Doctorate on Swarup for literary excellence and dedication to diplomacy. Swarup took over as the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs on 18 April 2015.

Personal life

Swarup speaks Turkish apart from English and other Indian languages. He is married to Aparna, an artist, and the couple have two sons.

References

External links

* *

Interviews and articles

Vikas Swarup: Mumbai will recover from this, just as it has many times before

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swarup, Vikas 21st-century Indian novelists Living people University of Allahabad alumni Indian Foreign Service officers 21st-century Indian short story writers Writers from Allahabad Novelists from Uttar Pradesh 1963 births 21st-century Indian male writers Indian male novelists Indian male short story writers High Commissioners of India to Canada

Early life and education

Diplomatic career

Writing career

''Q & A''

''Six Suspects''

''The Accidental Apprentice''

Other works

Recognition

Personal life

See also

References

External links

Interviews and articles