Garrisonroofing at 07:35, 27 March 2026

2026-03-27T07:35:49Z

->Lavish Somvanshi: /* Awards & Honours */

2022-01-04T03:48:08Z

Awards & Honours

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{{short description|Indian novelist and poet}}
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{Infobox writer 
| name = Vikram Seth
| honorific_suffix={{post-nominals|country=GBR|CBE|size=100%}} {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FRSL|size=100%}}
| image = Vikram Seth, in Oxfordshire.jpg
| caption = Seth in 2009
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1952|6|20|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Kolkata]], [[West Bengal]], [[India]]
| death_date =
| death_place =
| occupation = {{hlist|Novelist|poet}}
| nationality =
| height =
| alma_mater = [[Corpus Christi College, Oxford]]<br/>[[Stanford University]]
| period = 1980–present
| genre = Novels, poetry, libretto, travel writing, children's literature, biography/memoir
| notableworks = ''[[A Suitable Boy]]''<br/>''[[The Golden Gate (Seth novel)|The Golden Gate]]''<br/> ''[[An Equal Music]]''<br/>
| awards = [[Padma Shri]], [[Sahitya Academy Award|Sahitya Academy]], [[Stegner Fellowship]], [[Guggenheim Fellowship]], [[Commonwealth Foundation prizes|Commonwealth Writers' Prize]]
| signature =
| module = {{Listen |embed= yes |filename= Vikram_Seth_BBC_Radio4_Desert_Island_Discs_22_Jan_2012_b01772hm.flac |title= Vikram Seth's voice |type= speech |description= from the BBC programme ''[[Desert Island Discs]]'', 22 January 2012.<ref>{{Cite episode |title= Vikram Seth |series= Desert Island Discs |series-link= Desert Island Discs |url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b019rd99 |station= [[BBC Radio 4]] |date= 22 January 2012 |access-date= 18 January 2014 }}</ref> }}
| website = {{URL|www.vikramseth.net}}
}}

'''Vikram Seth''' {{post-nominals|post-noms={{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|commas=on|CBE|FRSL}}}} (born 20 June 1952) is an [[Indian people|Indian]] [[novelist]] and [[poet]]. He has written several [[novel]]s and [[poetry]] books. He has received several awards such as [[Padma Shri]], [[Sahitya Academy Award]], [[Pravasi Bharatiya Samman]], [[WH Smith Literary Award]] and [[Vodafone Crossword Book Award|Crossword Book Award]]. Seth's collections of [[poetry]] such as ''[[Mappings (poetry)|Mappings]]'' and ''[[Beastly Tales]]'' are notable contributions to the [[Indian English]] language poetry canon.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 23002110|title = In Other Places: An Inner Voice|last1 = Joshi|first1 = Rita|journal = India International Centre Quarterly|year = 1991|volume = 18|issue = 1|pages = 55–65}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Seth was born on 20 June 1952 in [[Calcutta]]. His father, Prem Nath Seth, was an executive of [[Bata Shoes]] and his mother, [[Leila Seth]], a [[barrister]] by training, became the first female judge of the [[Delhi High Court]] and first woman to become Chief Justice of a state High Court in India.<ref name="Atkins2002">{{cite book|author=Angela Atkins|title=Vikram Seth's Suitable Boy: A Reader's Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nqiNnpMOxlYC&pg=PA7|date=26 June 2002|publisher=A&C Black |isbn=978-0-8264-5707-3|page=7}}</ref>

Seth was educated at the all-boys' private boarding school [[The Doon School ]] in [[Dehradun]], where he was editor-in-chief of ''[[The Doon School Weekly]]''.<ref name="Seth2007">{{cite book|author=Leila Seth|title=On Balance|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m8byMR-HFBMC&pg=PT137|date=7 February 2007|publisher=Penguin Books Limited|isbn=978-81-8475-055-3|pages=137–}}</ref> At Doon, he was influenced by his teacher, the mountaineer [[Gurdial Singh (mountaineer)|Gurdial Singh]], who taught him geography and, according to Leila Seth, "guided Vikram in many ways...encouraged him to appreciate Western classical music and instilled in him a love of adventure and daring."<ref name="Seth2007">{{cite book|author=Leila Seth|title=On Balance|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m8byMR-HFBMC&pg=PT137|date=7 February 2007|publisher=Penguin Books Limited|isbn=978-81-8475-055-3|pages=137–}}</ref> Singh later described Seth as an "indefatigable worker, and he maintains without difficulty his distinguished level in studies...he has put in enormous amount of energy in other spheres of school life, in dramatics, in debating, in first aid, in music, and in editing the Doon School Weekly."<ref name="Seth2007" /> After graduating from Doon, Seth went to [[Tonbridge School]], England, to complete his [[A-levels]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/1999/mar/27/books.guardianreview1 |title=A suitable joy | Books |work=The Guardian |date=26 March 1999 |access-date=7 April 2020}}</ref><ref name="google2">{{cite book|title=Vikram Seth's Suitable Boy: A Reader's Guide|author=Atkins, A.|date=2002|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic|isbn=9780826457073|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nqiNnpMOxlYC&pg=PA8|page=8|access-date=24 November 2015}}</ref> Later he read [[Philosophy, Politics and Economics]] at [[Corpus Christi College, Oxford|Corpus Christi College]], [[University of Oxford|Oxford]]. He then pursued a Ph.D. in Economics at [[Stanford University]] though never completed it.<ref name=bio>{{cite web|url=http://ekikrat.in/Vikram-Seth |title=Vikram Seth |publisher=ekikrat.in|access-date=24 November 2015}}</ref><ref name="stanford">{{cite web|url=http://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/may/golden-gate-stanford-052013.html |title=The Golden Gate returns to Stanford May 30 |date=20 May 2013 |publisher=news.stanford.edu|access-date=24 November 2015}}</ref><ref>Vikram Seth's Founder's Day Address, [[The Doon School]], Penguin Books of Modern Speeches (2009) p.34 "...edited the Weekly and did other things"</ref>

==Work and style==
Seth has published eight books of poetry and three novels. In 1980, he wrote ''[[Mappings (poetry)|Mappings]]'', his first book of poetry. The publication of ''[[A Suitable Boy]]'', a 1,349-page novel, propelled Seth into the public limelight. It was adapted into a BBC television drama miniseries in 2020.<ref>{{Cite web|title=A Suitable Boy: BBC miniseries|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000lbh9}}</ref> His second novel, ''[[An Equal Music]],'' deals with the troubled love-life of a violinist. Seth's work ''[[Two Lives (non-fiction)|Two Lives]],'' published in 2005, is a memoir of the marriage of his great-uncle and aunt.

In addition to ''[[The Golden Gate (Seth novel)|The Golden Gate]],'' Seth has written other works of poetry including ''[[Mappings (poetry)|Mappings]]'' (1980), ''[[The Humble Administrator's Garden]]'' (1985), ''[[All You Who Sleep Tonight]]'' (1990) and ''[[Three Chinese Poets]]'' (1992). His children's book, ''[[Beastly Tales from Here and There]]'' (1992) consists of 10 stories about animals. He has written a travel book, ''From Heaven Lake: Travels through Sinkiang and Tibet'' (1983), an account of a journey through [[Tibet]], China and [[Nepal]]. He was also commissioned by the [[English National Opera]] to write a libretto based on the Greek legend of [[Arion]] and the Dolphin. The opera was performed for the first time in June 1994.

A sequel to ''A Suitable Boy,'' ''[[A Suitable Girl]]'', was announced in 2009.

==Life and career==
Seth's former literary agent [[Giles Gordon]] recalled being interviewed by Seth for the position, "Vikram sat at one end of a long table and he began to grill us. It was absolutely incredible. He wanted to know our literary tastes, our views on poetry, our views on plays, which novelists we liked".<ref name="guardiansaturday">{{citation |title=A suitable joy |date=27 March 1999 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/1999/mar/27/books.guardianreview1 |periodical=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=5 September 2007 |first=Jeremy |last=Gavron |location=London}}."</ref> Seth later explained to Gordon that he had passed the interview not because of commercial considerations, but because unlike the others he was the only agent who seemed as interested in his poetry as in his other writing. Seth followed what he has described as "the ludicrous advance for that book" (£250,000 for ''A Suitable Boy'')<ref>{{cite news |last1=Flood |first1=Alison |title=Vikram Seth writes Suitable Boy sequel |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/jul/03/vikram-seth-suitable-boy-sequel#:~:text=There's%20no%20word%20yet%20as,to%20his%20most%20popular%20novel.&text=Seth%20described%20the%20time%20shift,in%20an%20interview%20with%20Reuters. |access-date=25 September 2020 |work=The Guardian |date=3 July 2009 |language=en}}</ref> with £500,000 for ''An Equal Music'' and £1.4 million for ''Two Lives''.<ref name="rediff">{{citation |title=Seth to get at least $3 million advance |first=Shyam |last=Bhatia |date=1 September 2003 |access-date=5 September 2007 |work=[[Rediff.com]] |url=http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/sep/01seth.htm?zcc=rl}}</ref> He prepared an [[acrostic]] poem<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.curtisbrown.co.uk/vikram_seth_tribute.html |title=Curtis Brown |access-date=26 February 2017 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040815212235/http://www.curtisbrown.co.uk/vikram_seth_tribute.html |archive-date=15 August 2004 }}</ref> for his address at Gordon's 2005 memorial service.<ref name="poemhunter">{{cite web|url=http://www.poemhunter.com/vikram-seth/biography/|title=Vikram Seth – Vikram Seth Biography – Poem Hunter|publisher=poemhunter.com|access-date=24 November 2015}}</ref>

Seth was made a [[Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] in 2001.

==Bibliography==

===Novels===
*''[[The Golden Gate (Seth novel)|The Golden Gate]]'' (1986)<ref name="doononline">{{citation |title=Vikram Seth |periodical=DoonOnline: Features & Spotlights |url=http://doononline.net/pages/info_features/features_spotlights/spotlights/seth/index.htm |access-date=5 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060516082359/http://www.doononline.net/pages/info_features/features_spotlights/spotlights/seth/index.htm |archive-date=16 May 2006 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
*''[[A Suitable Boy]]'' (1993)
*''[[An Equal Music]]'' (1999)<ref name="albertazzi">{{citation |periodical=European Review |date=20 January 2005|volume=13 |pages=103–113 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/S1062798705000104 |url=http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=276618 |first=Silvia |last=Albertazzi |title=An equal music, an alien world: postcolonial literature and the representation of European culture|s2cid=144544406}}</ref>

===Poetry===
*''[[Mappings (poetry)|Mappings]]'' (1980)
*''[[The Tale Of Melon City]]'' (1981)
*''[[The Humble Administrator's Garden]]'' (1985)
*''[[All You Who Sleep Tonight]]'' (1990)
*''[[Beastly Tales]]'' (1991)
*''[[Three Chinese Poets]]'' (1992)
*''[[The Frog and the Nightingale]]'' (1994)
*''Summer Requiem: A Book of Poems'' (2015)
*''A Doctor’s Journal Entry for August 6, 1945''

===Children's fiction===
*''Arion and the Dolphin'' (1994)

===Non-fiction===
* ''From Heaven Lake: Travels Through Sinkiang and Tibet'' (1983)
* [[Two Lives (non-fiction)|''Two Lives'']] (2005)
* ''The Rivered Earth'' (2011)<ref name="TOI">{{citation |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-toi/special-report/I-got-drunk-to-write/articleshow/10888180.cms |title=Times of India by Shobha John, TNN: 27 Nov 2011, 05.13 am IST : 'I got drunk to write, says Vikram Seth' |work=The Times of India |location=India |date=27 November 2011}}</ref>

===Appearances in poetry anthologies===
* ''The Golden Treasure of [[Writers Workshop]] Poetry''. Ed. Rubana Huq. Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 2008.<ref>{{cite web |title=Rubana Huq, ed. The Golden Treasury of Writers Workshop Poetry. Review : ASIATIC, VOLUME 3, NUMBER 1, JUNE 2009 |url=http://journals.iium.edu.my/asiatic/index.php/AJELL/article/view/82/67 |website=journals.iium.edu.my |publisher=journals.iium.edu.my |access-date=4 September 2018}}</ref>
* ''The Oxford India Anthology of Twelve Modern Indian Poets''. Ed. [[Arvind Krishna Mehrotra]]. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1992.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Oxford India Anthology of Twelve Modern Indian Poets |url=https://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/users/amit/books/mehrotra-1993-oxford-india-anthology.html |website=cse.iitk.ac.in |publisher=cse.iitk.ac.in |access-date=23 August 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Book review: 'Twelve Modern Indian Poets' by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/indiascope/story/19920815-book-review-twelve-modern-indian-poets-by-arvind-krishna-mehrotra-766731-2013-01-03 |website=indiatoday.in |publisher=indiatoday.in |access-date=23 August 2018}}</ref>

== Personal life ==
Seth divides his time between the [[United Kingdom]], where he bought and renovated the former home of the Anglican poet [[George Herbert]] near [[Salisbury]], and India, where he has a family home in [[Noida]], [[Uttar Pradesh]].<ref name="herberthouse2">{{citation|last1=Lewis|first1=Leo|title=Listening to God's melodies|date=29 July 2006|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,923-2288533,00.html|periodical=[[The Times]]|location=London|access-date=5 September 2007|last2=Island|first2=Jindo}}</ref> In 2006, he became a leader of the campaign against [[Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code]], a law against [[Homosexuality|homosexuality.]]<ref>{{citation|title=It Took Me Long To Come To Terms With Myself. Those Were Painful hardware core Years.|date=2 October 2006|url=http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?232671|periodical=[[Outlook India]]|access-date=5 September 2007}}</ref>

==Awards & Honours==
*1983 – Thomas Cook Travel Book Award for ''From Heaven Lake: Travels Through Sinkiang and Tibet''
*1985 – [[Commonwealth Poetry Prize]] (Asia) for ''The Humble Administrator's Garden''
*1988 – [[Sahitya Akademi Award]] for ''The Golden Gate''
*1993 – Irish Times International Fiction Prize (shortlist) for ''A Suitable Boy''
*1994 – [[Commonwealth Foundation prizes|Commonwealth Writers Prize]] (Overall Winner, Best Book) for ''A Suitable Boy''
*1994 – [[WH Smith Literary Award]] for ''A Suitable Boy''
*1999 – [[Vodafone Crossword Book Award|Crossword Book Award]] for ''An Equal Music''
*2001 – [[Order of the British Empire]], Commander
*2001 – EMMA (BT Ethnic and Multicultural Media Award) for Best Book/Novel for ''An Equal Music''
*2005 – [[Pravasi Bharatiya Samman]]
*2007 – [[Padma Shri]] in Literature & Education<ref name="Padma Awards">{{cite web |url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |title=Padma Awards |publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India |year=2015 |access-date=21 July 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015193758/http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |archive-date=15 October 2015 }}</ref>
*2013 – [[NDTV]]'s 25 Greatest Global Living Legends In India

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
*[[Amit Chaudhuri|Chaudhuri, Amit]] (ed.). "Vikram Seth (born 1952)." ''The Vintage Book of Modern Indian Literature''. New York: Vintage, 2004:508–537.

==External links==
{{Sister project links |wikt=no |b=no |n=no |q=Vikram Seth |s=Author:Vikram Seth |v=no |species=no |commons=Category:Vikram Seth }}

*[http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/article1551817.ece The Telegraph ("Love split delayed Suitable Boy sequel")]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20150906135953/http://literature.britishcouncil.org/vikram-seth British Council Bio]
*{{IMDb name |id=1532972 |name=Vikram Seth}}
*[http://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/magazine/article/?article_id=40714 "Poetic License" by Cynthia Haven, "Stanford Magazine," May/June 1999]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20151122180015/http://bombmagazine.org/article/1377/ ''BOMB Magazine'' interview with Vikram Seth by Ameena Meer]
*[http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=seth_vikram Vikram Seth] at the [[The Encyclopedia of Fantasy|Encyclopedia of Fantasy]]

{{Vikram Seth}}
{{Commonwealth Writers' Prize - Best Book Winners}}
{{Sahitya Akademi Award for English}}{{Padma Shri Award Recipients in Literature & Education}}{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seth, Vikram}}
[[Category:1952 births]]
[[Category:Writers from Kolkata]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Bisexual writers]]
[[Category:The Doon School alumni]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature]]
[[Category:English-language poets from India]]
[[Category:English-language writers from India]]
[[Category:Indian emigrants to the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Indian male novelists]]
[[Category:Indian travel writers]]
[[Category:LGBT writers from India]]
[[Category:LGBT rights activists from India]]
[[Category:People educated at Tonbridge School]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in literature & education]]
[[Category:The Doon School faculty]]
[[Category:Bisexual men]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in English]]
[[Category:St. Xavier's Patna alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Patna]]
[[Category:Indian male poets]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian novelists]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian poets]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian poets]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian essayists]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian essayists]]
[[Category:Indian political writers]]
[[Category:Indian children's writers]]
[[Category:Novelists from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Poets from West Bengal]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian male writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian male writers]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Stegner Fellows]]

Vikram Seth - Revision history

Garrisonroofing at 07:35, 27 March 2026

->Lavish Somvanshi: /* Awards & Honours */