Aravind Adiga upset his countrymen with a portrayal of India as a country of corruption and servitude. The author was undaunted: ‘Fortunately, the political class doesn’t read.’

Adiga, 33 at the time of his win, was uncomfortable with the brouhaha that accompanies the prize: ‘Once you have written a book like The White Tiger,’ he vouchsafed, ‘it’s very hard to escape from the shadow of it. I was frightened The White Tiger would eat me up too.’

Adiga escaped its clutches with three subsequent, highly-praised novels. His prize-winning book, detailing the rise of an unscrupulous Indian village boy from poverty to riches, was adapted into an Oscar-nominated film.
 

By
Aravind Adiga
Published by
Atlantic
Aravind Adiga’s brilliantly irreverent tale of two Indias charts one man’s evolution from village waiter to larcenous killer to amoral entrepreneur.

The Shortlist

The Secret Scripture
Sea of Poppies
The Northern Clemency
A Fraction of the Whole
The White Tiger
Prize winner

The Longlist

The 2008 judges