ZURICH, October 2, 2024 — Indian novelist Deepti Kapoor discusses her bestselling novel Age of Vice, which currently is being adapted for a TV series. In it, she paints a portrait of crime and power in a fast-growing and rapidly changing India around the turn of the century. Asia Society Switzerland TOY Senior Fellow James Crabtree moderates the conversation. He is the author of Billionaire Raj: A Journey Through India’s New Gilded Age and used to serve as the Mumbai Bureau Chief for the Financial Times, from 2011 until 2016. 

Deepti Kapoor is an Indian novelist currently based between India and Portugal. Her first novel A Bad Character was published to critical acclaim in 2014 and shortlisted for major Indian awards. In France it was shortlisted for the Prix Médicis.
Her second novel Age of Vice, the first part of a trilogy, was an instant NYT bestseller and published in 22 countries in 2023. It was named a Best Book of the Year by Washington Post, Publishers Weekly, Oprah Daily, NPR and the Telegraph among other publications and shortlisted for the Prix Fragonard in France. 
It is currently being developed by FX for a major television series.

James Crabtree is the 2024 TOY Senior Fellow at Asia Society Policy Institute and Asia Society Switzerland. He is a distinguished analyst with long-standing experience and a vast range of high-level contacts in the region. His book The Billionaire Raj: A Journey Through India’s New Gilded Age, was named an Amazon book of the year and short-listed as FT / McKinsey business book of the year. He is a distinguished visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. He was previously the Singapore-based Executive Director of the Institute of International Strategic Studies (IISS) in Asia, where he led the organisation of the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit, the region’s most important annual meeting of security and defence leaders. He was also an Associate Professor in Practice at the Lee Kuan Yew School, Asia’s leading school of public policy. More.

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Big Picture is a public event series where we celebrate art in all its forms and shapes: Be it food, movies, museums, or literature. We invite artists, curators, and experts to talk about their practices and how these can help shed light on the world we live in. These talks are designed to further the dialogue and exchange across disciplines and regions and to travel beyond the events.

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This Big Picture event is hosted in cooperation with the Swiss-Indian Chamber of Commerce.