Aravind Adiga

Biography

Aravind Adiga (born 1974) grew up in Mangalore, India, was educated at Columbia University and Oxford, and worked as a journalist for the Financial Times and Time magazine before publishing The White Tiger as his debut novel. He won the Man Booker Prize in 2008 — one of the youngest recipients and the fourth Indian-born writer to win. His journalism gave him access to both India's wealthy elite and its working class; The White Tiger draws on reporting he did in Bihar and Delhi's servant quarters. Unlike many postcolonial novelists writing for Western audiences, Adiga explicitly rejected the 'India Shining' narrative that was dominant in international coverage during the 2000s tech boom.

Aravind Adiga at a glance