Indian diplomat wins 2006 Boeke Prize

Writer Vikas Swarup, better known as India's Deputy High Commissioner to South Africa, has won the 2006 Boeke Prize for his novel Q&A.

Swarup's novel, which has been translated into 25 languages and is due to be turned into a film as well as a stage musical, tells the poignant story of a penniless waiter from Mumbai who goes on to become the biggest quiz-show winner in history.

The book was chosen from a list of fiction-based novels nominated by booksellers. Runner-up was 2005 Orange prize-winner Lionel Shriver's We Need To Talk About Kevin. Other shortlisted books included The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka, Disobedience by Naomi Alderman, and Labyrinth by Kate Mosse.
 
'The word on the street was that these were fictional sleeper hits,' said Jill van Zyl, a director of Exclusive Books, in a statement, adding, 'Our judges were called on to decide which of the eight short-listed titles they considered to be impossible to put down, a compelling story, yet highly accessible to all book lovers.'

Vikas Swarup collected a framed picture of his debut novel's jacket at an award ceremony held at a bookstore in Johannesburg on Wednesday night.

The Boeke prize, for the best page-turner and most compelling fiction of the year, was started 12 years ago as a tongue-in-cheek take on the more staid Man Booker Prize.