Starting August 2009, Vikas Swarup has been India's Consul-General to Osaka, Japan. Prior to that, he was posted in Pretoria as India's Deputy High Commissioner to South Africa. His debut novel, Q and A, tells the story of a penniless waiter in Mumbai who becomes the biggest quiz show winner in history. Critically acclaimed in India and abroad, this international bestseller is being translated into 41 languages. It was shortlisted for the Best First Book by the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and won South Africa’s Exclusive Books Boeke Prize 2006, as well as the Prix Grand Public at the 2007 Paris Book Fair. Most recently, it was voted winner of the Best Travel Read (Fiction) at the Heathrow Travel Product Award 2009. Film4 of the UK had optioned the movie rights and the movie titled "Slumdog Millionaire", directed by Danny Boyle was first released in the US to great critical acclaim. It won the People's Choice Award at the Toronto Film Festival and three awards (Best Film, Best Director and Most Promising Newcomer) at the British Independent Film Awards 2008. The National Board of Review picked "Slumdog Millionaire" as the best film of 2008. The movie swept five awards out of its six nominations at the Critics' Choice Awards, and all four nominations awarded at the Golden Globe Awards which includes Best Director, Picture, Screenplay & Score, and seven BAFTA Awards. It received 10 Oscar nominations of which it won 8, including Best Picture and Best Director. From The NY Times' report: "[T]hough it had no actors nominated for prizes, [it also] swept many awards other than those on the top line, including prizes for cinematography, sound mixing, score and film editing. Slumdog’s eight Oscars was the largest total won by a single film since "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" won 11 in 2004." Vikas Swarup's second novel Six Suspects, published by Transworld, was released in 2008 and is being translated into several languages and published in the US by Minotaur Books in 2009.