 Narayan was commissioned by the government of Karnataka to write a book to promote tourism in the state . The work was published as part of a larger government publication in the late 1970s . He thought it deserved better , and republished it as The Emerald Route ( Indian Thought Publications , 1980 ) . The book contains his personal perspective on the local history and heritage , but being bereft of his characters and creations , it misses his enjoyable narrative . The same year , he was elected as an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and won the AC Benson Medal from the Royal Society of Literature . Around the same time , Narayan 's works were translated to Chinese for the first time . 
