Accomplished Indian author Vikram Seth is among 13 luminaries that will be conferred with honorary degrees by Britain's prestigious University of Leicester. The official announcement was made earlier today.

Born in Kolkata and educated at Oxford University in England, Vikram Seth wrote his first novel, The Golden Gate, in 1986. However, it was his second novel, A Suitable Boy, which is a 1,349-page colossus published in 1993 that made him famous.

Vikram Seth has also authored six collections of poetry including Mappings (1980). The Humble Administrator's Garden (1985), All You Who Sleep Tonight (1990), Beastly Tales (1991), and Three Chinese Poets (1992). His most famous book of poetry From Heaven Lake (1983) discusses a hitchhiking trip through Nepal and into India that Seth took while studying in China,