`Slumdog Millionaire' writer to be new MEA spokesperson

Senior diplomat Vikas Swarup, whose debut novel was made into the Oscar-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire, has been appointed as the spokesperson in the external affairs ministry. A 1986-batch IFS officer, Swarup will succeed Syed Akbaruddin, who has been promoted as additional secretary in the ministry and will also be the chief coordinator for the India Africa Summit in October.
Swarup is the author of internationally acclaimed novel Q&A, which was made into Slumdog Millionaire.
The film won eight Academy Awards in 2009, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay.
Swarup wrote his first novel in a rush just as he was finishing a diplomatic tour of Britain in 2003, he told the Guardian in 2009. It was written as a thriller, albeit one with searing social commentary about India's woes of inequality and poverty.
Swarup was the joint secretary (United NationsPolitical) in the external affairs ministry and will take over on April 18, officials said.
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