Aravind Adiga (born 23 October 1974) is an Indian writer and journalist. His

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 pu ...

, '' The White Tiger'', won the 2008

Man Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a prestigious literary award conferred each year for the best single work of sustained fiction written in the English language, wh ...

Early life and education

Aravind Adiga was born in

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

(now

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

), the

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

, on 23 October 1974. His parents Usha Adiga and Dr. K. Madhava Adiga hailed from

Mangalore Mangaluru (), formerly called Mangalore ( ), is a major industrial port city in the Indian state of Karnataka and on the west coast of India. It is located between the Laccadive Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bengaluru, the st ...

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

. His paternal grandfather was K. Suryanarayana Adiga, former chairman of Karnataka Bank, and maternal great-grandfather, U. Rama Rao, was a popular medical practitioner and politician from Madras. Adiga grew up in Mangalore and studied at Canara High School and later at St. Aloysius College, Mangaluru, where he completed his SSLC in 1990. After emigrating to Sydney with his family, Aravind studied at James Ruse Agricultural High School. He later studied English literature at

Columbia College of Columbia University Columbia College is the oldest Undergraduate education#United States system, undergraduate college of Columbia University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the ...

, in New York City, under

Simon Schama Sir Simon Michael Schama ( ; born 13 February 1945) is an English historian and television presenter. He specialises in art history, Dutch history, Jewish history, and French history. He is a professor of history and art history at Columbia Uni ...

, and graduated as

salutatorian Salutatorian is an academic title given in Armenia, the Philippines, Canada, Afghanistan and the United States to the second-highest-ranked graduate of the entire graduating class of a specific discipline. Only the valedictorian is ranked higher. ...

in 1997. He also studied at

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and ...

, where one of his tutors was Hermione Lee.

Career

Journalism

Aravind Adiga began his journalism career as an intern at the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

.'' With pieces published in ''

Money Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are: m ...

'' and ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'', he covered the stock market and investment. In 2003, he interviewed future US President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

. Later that year, he moved from New York to New Delhi to be South Asia correspondent for ''Time''. In a 2017 interview, he explained: “Being a journalist afforded me a path to go back to India." Three years later, he became a freelance writer and moved to

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

. His review of previous Booker Prize winner, '' Oscar and Lucinda'', appeared in ''The Second Circle'', an online literary review.

''The White Tiger''

Soon after resigning from his position at ''Time'', Adiga started writing his debut novel, '' The White Tiger.'' Published in March 2008, the book won the

Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a prestigious literary award conferred each year for the best single work of sustained fiction written in the English language, wh ...

later that year. He is the fourth Indian-born author to win the prize, after

Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie ( ; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British and American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern wor ...

Arundhati Roy Suzanna Arundhati Roy (; born 24 November 1961) is an Indian author best known for her novel ''The God of Small Things'' (1997), which won the Booker Prize for Fiction in 1997 and became the best-selling book by a non-expatriate Indian author. ...

, and Kiran Desai. Propelled mainly by the Booker Prize win, ''The White Tiger''s Indian hardcover edition sold more than 200,000 copies. The book received critical acclaim. ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

'' called it "one of the most powerful books I've read in decades", comparing it to Richard Wright's '' Native Son'' and Ralph Ellison's '' Invisible Man''. ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' called it: " blistering description of the inner workings of India's corrupt upper class ..fresh, funny, different." Shortly after Adiga won the Booker Prize, it was alleged that he had sacked the agent who secured his contract with Atlantic Books at the 2007 London Book Fair. Adiga denied this claim. In April 2009, it was announced that the novel would be adapted into a feature film, which was later released on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

in 2021.

Other works

Adiga's second book, '' Between the Assassinations'', is a short story collection set in a fictional coastal town in India. It was released in India in November 2008 and in the US and UK in mid-2009. His third book, '' Last Man in Tower'', was published in the US in September 2011. His next novel, '' Selection Day'', was published in the US in January 2017. ''Amnesty,'' published in February 2020, is a novel about an undocumented Sri Lankan immigrant living in Australia. It was shortlisted for the 2021

Miles Franklin Award The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". The award was set up according to the Will (law), will of Miles Franklin ...

Bibliography

Novels

* '' The White Tiger: A Novel''. Atlantic Books, Ltd (UK), Free Press (US), 2008 * '' Between the Assassinations''. Picador (IND), 2008 * '' Last Man in Tower''. Fourth Estate (IND), 2011 * '' Selection Day''. HarperCollins India (IND), 2016 * ''

Amnesty Amnesty () is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power officially forgiving certain classes of people who are subject to trial but have not yet be ...

''. Picador, Pan Macmillan, 2020

Short stories

* "The Sultan's Battery" (''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', 18 October 2008
online text
* "Smack" (''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'', 16 November 2008
online text
* "Last Christmas in Bandra" (''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', 19 December 2008
online text
* "The Elephant" (''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', 26 January 2009
online text

Selected Articles

* "The Death of the Indian Dream" (''

'', 30 July 2008
archived text
* "Bachelor Bigotry" (''

'', 28 August 2008
online text

References

External links

Official website

''Time'' magazine – Search Results for Aravind Adiga

"Aravind Adiga in Conversation with Hirsh Sawhney"
''

The Brooklyn Rail ''The Brooklyn Rail'' is an American publication and platform for the arts, culture, humanities, and politics, based in Brooklyn, New York. It features in-depth critical essays, fiction, poetry, as well as interviews with artists, critics, and ...

'' (September 2008) {{DEFAULTSORT:Adiga, Aravind 1974 births Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Indian emigrants to Australia Booker Prize winners Columbia College (New York) alumni Journalists from Karnataka Indian male novelists Kannada-language writers Living people Mangaloreans Writers from Mangalore English-language writers from India 21st-century Indian novelists People educated at James Ruse Agricultural High School Novelists from Karnataka 21st-century Indian male writers Kannada people