Aravind Adiga began his journalism career as an intern at theFinancial Times.[12] With pieces published inMoney andTime, he covered the stock market and investment.
In 2003, he interviewed future US PresidentDonald Trump.[12][13] Later that year, he moved from New York to New Delhi to be South Asia correspondent forTime.[14][15] In a 2017 interview, he explained: “Being a journalist afforded me a path to go back to India."[14]
Three years later, he became a freelance writer and moved toMumbai.[12]
His review of previous Booker Prize winner,Oscar and Lucinda, appeared inThe Second Circle, an online literary review.[16]
Soon after resigning from his position atTime, Adiga started writing his debut novel,The White Tiger.[17] Published in March 2008, the book won theBooker Prize later that year.[18][19] He is the fourth Indian-born author to win the prize, afterSalman Rushdie,Arundhati Roy, andKiran Desai.[20] Propelled mainly by the Booker Prize win,The White Tiger's Indian hardcover edition sold more than 200,000 copies.[21]
The book received critical acclaim.USA Today called it "one of the most powerful books I've read in decades", comparing it to Richard Wright'sNative Son and Ralph Ellison'sInvisible Man.[22]The Washington Post called it: "[a] blistering description of the inner workings of India's corrupt upper class [...] fresh, funny, different."[23]
Shortly after Adiga won the Booker Prize, it was alleged that he had sacked the agent who secured his contract withAtlantic Books at the 2007London Book Fair.[24][25] Adiga denied this claim.[26]
In April 2009, it was announced that the novel would be adapted intoa feature film,[27] which was later released onNetflix in 2021.[28][29]
Adiga's second book,Between the Assassinations, is a short story collection set in a fictional coastal town in India.[30] It was released in India in November 2008[31] and in the US and UK in mid-2009.[32]
His third book,Last Man in Tower, was published in the US in September 2011.[33] His next novel,Selection Day, was published in the US in January 2017.[34]
Amnesty, published in February 2020, is a novel about an undocumented Sri Lankan immigrant living in Australia.[35][36] It was shortlisted for the 2021Miles Franklin Award.[37]
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