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 many motivational talks at institutions across the world. Recognition On 21 September 2010, the University of South Africa (UNISA) conferred the degree of Doctor of Literature & Philosophy (honoris causa) on Swarup at a graduation ceremony in Pretoria. On June 18, 2020, Montreal-based Concordia University conferred an Honorary Doctorate on Swarup for literary excellence and dedication to diplomacy. Swarup took over as the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs on 18 April 2015. Personal life Swarup speaks Turkish apart from English and other Indian languages. He is married to Aparna, an artist, and the couple have two sons. See also List of Indian writers Harsh Vardhan Shringla Taranjit Singh Sandhu Vinay Mohan Kwarta References External links Interviews and articles Vikas Swarup: Mumbai will recover from this, just as it has many times before The Rediff Interview/Vikas Swarup How the story of Slumdog Millionaire started. 21st-century Indian novelists Living people University of Allahabad alumni Indian Foreign Service officers 21st-century Indian short story writers Writers from Allahabad Novelists from Uttar Pradesh 1963 births 21st-century Indian male writers Indian male novelists Indian male short story writers High Commissioners of India to Canada