After the great reception of the Global Indian Rich List, Asian Voice has decided to give you a further insight to such prestigious people and where they stand in the social and economical ladder. For the next five weeks, Asian Voice will present to you the list of highest earners from different fields; this week being the five highest earning writers from the Indian diaspora.
1. SALMAN RUSHDIE - $15 million
Salman Rushdie (born in 1947) is the only author in the Indian diaspora who figures in a list of the world's Top 50 highest earning writers. Salman Rushdie is one of the most successful yet controversial authors, having many acclaimed books to his credit, as well as fatwas and death threats from many communities as well.
Some of his successful novels include Midnight's Children (1981), for which he received the Booker Prize, The Ground Beneath Her Feet (1999) and The Enchantress of Florence 2008). His novel, The Satanic Verses(1988) was extremely controversial, having angered many Muslims globally. The novel was banned in many countries with large Muslim communities, such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sudan and Singapore, to name a few.
Salman Rushdie adapted Midnight's Children into a play. It was also made into a movie by the same titled, starring the likes of Shabana Azmi and Irrfan Khan, directed by Deepa Mehta and released in 2012.
Rushdie has received many awards, including the Whitbread Prize twice for the Best Novel, the Budapest Grand Prize for Best Literature as well as the London International Writers' Award. He holds honorary doctorates and fellowships at six European and six American universities and in 2007, he received a knighthood in the Queen's Birthday Honours.
2. V S NAIPAUL - $7 million
Vidhiadhar Surajprasad (V.S) Naipaul (born in 1932) is of Indian descent, born in Trinidad. He is estimated to have earned a few million over the years and is ranked 72 in a list of 100 best-selling novels in the 20th century.
Some of Naipaul's best known work include A Bend in the River (1979), A House for Mr. Biswas (1961) and A Way in the World (1994). In 2001, Naipaul was honoured with the Nobel Prize for the novel Half a Life, which is a story about an Indian immigrant to England and Africa.
V.S Naipaul was knighted in 1989. In 1993, he was awarded the David Cohen British Literature Prize by the Art Council of England, the Booker Prize Award for Fiction in 1971 for In a Free State and the Somerset Maugham Award in 1961, for the novel Miguel Street (1959). Naipaul also hold honorary doctorates from Cambridge University and Columbia University, New York, as well as honorary degrees from the universities of, London, Oxford and Cambridge.
3. VIKRAM SETH -$5 million
Vikram Seth (born in 1952), who shot to prominence with A Suitable Boy (1993), has probably done better by attracting advances in excess of $5 million.
Vikram Seth was born in Calcutta (now known as Kolkata), and has travelled extensively. Seth studied at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, Stanford University and Nanjing University. He has lived in Britain, China, India as well as California.
Some of the work by the Indian novelist and poet include All You Who Sleep Tonight (1990), An Equal Music (1999) and Two Lives (2005).
Seth has received several awards, including the WH Smith Literary Award and the Commonwealth Writers Prize in 1994, as well as the Irish Times International Fiction Prize in 1993 for A Suitable Boy.
An enraged Vikram Seth came into the forefront in 2013 to express his disappointment with the Indian Government for criminalising gay sex. He appeared dishevelled and angry on the cover of India Today, holding a blackboard which read, “Not a criminal.” This was a contrast to Seth's usual poised persona.
4. KIRAN DESAI $3 million
Kiran Desai (born in 1971) is an eminent novelist and is also the daughter of novelist, Anita Desai.
Kiran Desai was born in India and moved to England at the age of 14. She left Columbia University in the US to complete her first novel, Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard (1998). The novel is a progressive, fresh look at life in a lethargic provincial town of Shahkot in India. This novel won her the Betty Trask Award in 1998.
After extensively focussing on her next novel for more than seven years, Kiran Desai published her second novel,The Inheritance of Loss (2006). For her second novel, Desai received the Man Booker Prize for Fiction (2006) and the British Book Awards Decibel Writer of the Year (2007), plus many more.
Kiran Desai's mother, Anita Desai's work include, Fasting, Feasting, (1990), In Custody (1984) and Clear Light of Day (1980), for which she was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction.
5. CHETAN BHAGAT- $1.3 million
Chetan Bhagat in one of the most popular writers in mainstream India. Chetan Bhagat has six blockbuster books to his credit and four of his novels have been adapted into successful Bollywood films. His 2014 released Half Girlfriend is currently in the process of being made into a Bollywood film as well.
Some of his novels include, 2 States: The Story of My Marriage (2009), Five Point Someone: What Not to do at IIT (2004) and The Three Mistakes of My Life (2008). He has also worked on the screenplay for the film, Kick (2014), 2 States (2014) and Hello (2008).
Chetan Bhagat received the Society's Young Achiever's Award in 2004 as well as the Publisher's Recognition Award in 2005.
Bhagat used to have a career in Investment Banking in Hong Kong before moving to Mumbai, India in 2009 to pursue his passion in writing.
Chetan Bhagat was embroiled in controversy over his claim that the filmmakers of the film, 3 Idiots (2009), did not give him his due credit for the film, considering the film was based on his novel, Five Point Someone: What Not to do at IIT.
