Vikram Seth
Novelist and poet, author of A Suitable Boy
- Age
- 74 yrs
- Birthday in 235 days
- Works listed
- 5
- Book, Novel
- Honours
- 2
- Most recent 2007
- Profile views
- 1
- 0 followers
Vikram Seth is a novelist and poet best known for A Suitable Boy (1993), one of the longest novels ever published in English. He also wrote The Golden Gate, a novel in verse, and the music novel An Equal Music.
Biography
Education
Seth is the son of Leila Seth, the first woman to become chief justice of a state high court in India. He studied philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford and economics at Stanford, and spent two years at Nanjing University in China, which inspired his travel book From Heaven Lake (1983).
A novel in verse
His first novel, The Golden Gate (1986), told the lives of young professionals in San Francisco in nearly 600 sonnets modelled on Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin. It won the Sahitya Akademi Award.
A Suitable Boy
A Suitable Boy (1993), set in a newly independent India in the early 1950s, follows a mother’s search for a husband for her daughter Lata across four families. At about 1,350 pages it became a worldwide bestseller and was adapted by Mira Nair for BBC television in 2020.
Other works
His later books include An Equal Music (1999), about a string quartet violinist, and Two Lives (2005), about his great-uncle and great-aunt. He has also written poetry, children’s verse and a libretto. He received the Padma Shri in 2007 and has campaigned against India’s former law criminalising homosexuality.
Timeline
-
1952
Born in Calcutta (now Kolkata), West Bengal
-
1983
From Heaven Lake
-
1986
The Golden Gate
-
1988
Sahitya Akademi Award
-
1993
A Suitable Boy
-
1999
An Equal Music
-
2005
Two Lives
-
2007
Padma Shri
-
2020
BBC adaptation of A Suitable Boy
Notable works
-
1983
From Heaven Lake Book
-
1986
The Golden Gate Novel
-
1993
A Suitable Boy Novel
-
1999
An Equal Music Novel
-
2005
Two Lives Book
Awards and honours
-
Sahitya Akademi Award
1988 · The Golden Gate.
-
Padma Shri
2007
Did you know?
-
1
The Golden Gate is written entirely in sonnets.
-
2
A Suitable Boy runs to about 1,350 pages.
-
3
He hitch-hiked from China to India through Tibet in 1981.
Connections
Frequently asked
Who is Vikram Seth?
Vikram Seth is a novelist and poet best known for A Suitable Boy (1993), one of the longest novels ever published in English. He also wrote The Golden Gate, a novel in verse, and the music novel An Equal Music.
How old is Vikram Seth?
Vikram Seth is 74 years old, born on 20 June 1952 in Calcutta (now Kolkata), West Bengal.
Where is Vikram Seth from?
Vikram Seth was born in Calcutta (now Kolkata), West Bengal.
What is Vikram Seth known for?
Vikram Seth is best known for A Suitable Boy; The Golden Gate; An Equal Music; Two Lives.
What awards has Vikram Seth received?
Notable honours include Sahitya Akademi Award (1988), Padma Shri (2007).
References
- Vikram Seth — Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Retrieved 27 October 2026.
- Vikram Seth — Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 27 October 2026.
- Vikram Seth — IMDb. IMDb. Retrieved 27 October 2026.
- Vikram Seth — Goodreads author page. Goodreads. Retrieved 27 October 2026.
- Vikram Seth — Hindi Wikipedia. Wikipedia (Hindi). Retrieved 27 October 2026.
- Vikram Seth (Q379762) — structured data. Wikidata. Retrieved 27 October 2026.
Includes material from the Wikipedia article “Vikram Seth”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. That text is available under the same licence. Learn more
External links
Featured in
About this profile
- Researched by the TrackFame editorial team; reviewed by Sanjay Sokal under our editorial policy
- First published 27 October 2026
- Last updated
Cite this page
“Vikram Seth.” TrackFame, last updated 28 October 2026. https://trackfame.com/person/vikram-seth
Discussion 0
Sign in or create an account to join the discussion.
No comments yet — be the first.
More in Literature
Film & TV
Gulzar
Poet, lyricist and film director
Born 1933
Literature
Kabir
Fifteenth-century poet-saint of the Bhakti movement
Literature
Ruskin Bond
Author of stories for children and adults set in the Himalayan foothills
Born 1934
Literature
R. K. Narayan
Novelist and creator of the fictional town of Malgudi
1906 – 2001
Politics & Leadership
Sarojini Naidu
Poet, freedom fighter and first woman governor of an Indian state
1879 – 1949
Literature
Arundhati Roy
Novelist and essayist, winner of the Booker Prize
Born 1961