Dr Shashi Tharoor is an award-winning author of 18 books of fiction and non-fiction, including The Great Indian Novel, Pax Indica: India and the World of the 21st Century, An Era of Darkness: The British Empire in India, Why I Am A Hindu and The Paradoxical Prime Minister. He has won numerous literary awards, including a Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. A second-term Member of Parliament representing Thiruvananthapuram, and Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, he has served as Minister of State for Human Resource Development and for External Affairs in the Government of India. During his nearly three-decade-long career at the United Nations, he served as a peacekeeper, refugee worker, and administrator at the highest levels, serving as Under-Secretary-General during Kofi Annan’s leadership.