The diplomat who likes telling tales
The latest novel by Indian diplomat and bestselling author Vikas Swarup has just been published in Germany.
“The future is Indian” was one of the headlines in the insert published by the German weekly newspaper Die Zeit for the 2014 Frankfurt Book Fair. “The world’s largest democracy is a laboratory for the 21st century,” the article continued. “All of the globe’s major challenges are coming to a head on the subcontinent – the perfect conditions for exciting literature.” The focus of the article was Vikas Swarup, an Indian diplomat currently serving as India’s consul general in Osaka-Kobe, Japan. His first novel Q&A became a bestseller and is now known around the world, having been turned into the film Slumdog Millionaire, which won eight Oscars. His second novel Six Suspects is currently being filmed. This autumn The Accidental Apprentice was published in Germany. The novel tells the story of a female sales clerk who is supposed to begin managing a major corporation. There’s just one catch: she must first pass seven different tests. How does Swarup manage to combine a diplomat’s discreet duties and such an imaginative hobby? “When I write I am completely loyal to the reader,” he says. “When I am doing my job I am completely loyal to the state.”
