Unisa online - Unisa confers Honorary Doctorate on Slumdog Millionaire author

Author of Q and A and the brains behind Slumdog Millionaire,  Mr Vikas Swarup was conferred the degree of Doctor of Literature and Philosophy (honoris causa) on on 21 September 2010 at the ZK Matthews Great Hall.

 

The book, which tells the story of an 18-year-old boy from the slums of India who won 20 million rupees in a television game show, was chosen as The Most Influential Book of the Year 2008 by the Kingstone Bookstore in Taiwan. 

 

It was also voted the Best Travel Read (Fiction) of the summer in the first annual Heathrow Travel Product Awards. It is this very book that inspired the Slumdog Millionaire film that was released in the United States of America and won more than 70 awards within the first year of its release.

 

Mr Vikas’ second novel, Six suspects, a murder mystery set in modern day India and inspired by a true story  has released in 2008 and has already sold translation rights in 24 languages. He has also contributed to The children’s hours: stories of childhood, an anthology of short stories in support of the Save the Children’s campaign to fight violence against children.

 

He is not only a fiction writer of note, but has also written for TIME Magazine, The Guardian, The Telegraph (UK), Outlook magazine (India) and Liberation. He has participated in several literary festivals, book fairs, writers’ conferences and film festivals as an adjudicator and participant. In conclusion, he is one of the most distinct writers of our time. He has inspired his fellow Indians and the world at large with his respect for humanity, quest for survival and message of hope.  In his words, “when a beautiful flower blooms in the dirtiest slum-area, the humans will triumph over adversity”.