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Vikas Swarup (born 22 June 1961) is an Indian writer and retired diplomat of the Indian Foreign Service who served as the Secretary (West) at the Ministry of External Affairs, India on 30 June 2021 and previously served as High Commissioner of India in Canada and has been the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs. He authored the novel Q & A, adapted in film as Slumdog Millionaire, the winner of Best Film for the year 2009 at the Academy Awards, Golden Globe Awards and BAFTA Awards.
Swarup joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1986 and served in Turkey, the United States, Ethiopia, the United Kingdom, South Africa and Japan 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 at New Delhi, succeeding Syed Akbaruddin.
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. He died on 17 July 2022 due to heart attack
A BBC radio series based on the book won the Gold Award for Best Drama at the 2008 Sony Radio Academy Awards and the 2008 IVCA Clarion Award. HarperCollins brought out the audio book, read by Kerry Shale, which won the Audie for best fiction audio book of the year. Film4 of the UK had optioned the movie rights and the movie titled Slumdog Millionaire, directed by Danny Boyle, was first released in the US to great critical acclaim. It won the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival and three awards (Best Film, Best Director and Most Promising Newcomer) at the British Independent Film Awards 2008. The National Board of Review picked Slumdog Millionaire as the best film of 2008. The movie swept five awards out of its six nominations at the Critics' Choice Awards, and all four nominations awarded at the Golden Globe Awards including best director, picture, screenplay and score, and seven BAFTA Awards. It received ten Academy Awards nominations of which it won eight, including Best Picture and Best Director. From The NY Times report: "Though it had no actors nominated for prizes, it swept many awards other than those on the top line, including prizes for cinematography, sound mixing, score and film editing. Slumdog s eight Oscars was the largest total won by a single film since ' won 11 in 2004." "A ‘Slumdog’ Kind of Night at the Oscar Ceremony" by Michael Cieply and David Carr, The New York Times'', 23 February 2009. Retrieved 2–23–09. The film was released in the UK on 9 January 2009 and in India on 23 January with William Losch.
Swarup has participated in the Oxford Literary Festival, the Turin International Book Fair, the Auckland Writers' Conference, the Sydney Writers' Festival, the Kitab Festival in New Delhi, the St. Malo International Book & Film Festival in France, the 'Words on Water' Literary Festival at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, the Jaipur Literature Festival 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 as a jury member for the International Competition for Feature Digital Films.
He has written for TIME, Newsweek, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph (UK), Outlook magazine (India) and Libération (France).
Vikas Swarup gives motivational talks at institutions internationally.
Swarup took over as the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs on 18 April 2015.
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