Vikram Seth is an Indian novelist and poet born on 20 June 1952. He has authored several novels and poetry books, receiving numerous awards such as the Padma Shri, Sahitya Akademi Award, Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, WH Smith Literary Award, and Crossword Book Award. His poetry collections, such as Mappings and Beastly Tales, are significant contributions to Indian English-language poetry. Seth is also known for his travel narrative From Heaven Lake: Travels Through Sinkiang and Tibet (1983), which won the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award. His first novel in verse, The Golden Gate (1986), describes the experiences of a group of friends in California. The epic novel A Suitable Boy (1993) is set in the 1950s and earned him further literary acclaim.