Shashi Tharoor to speak at PM’s biography launch

Compelling and eloquent speaker and award-winning author Dr. Shashi Tharoor, a former Under-Secretary-General at the United Nations (UN) will be in Colombo next week for the launch of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s biography authored by Dinesh Weerakkody 
The book will be launched at the BMICH. 
Tharoor was India’s official nominee for the UN Secretary General Post and it was a veto by the United States that ended his run for the top job at the UN. 
He also served as Minister of State for Human Resource Development and Minister of State for External Affairs in the Congress government. 
Dr. Tharoor is currently an MP for the Indian National Congress and Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on 
External Affairs. 
Tharoor is an acclaimed writer, having authored 15 bestselling works of fiction and non-fiction since 1981, all of which are centered on India and its history, culture, film, politics, society, foreign policy, and more. 
He is also the author of hundreds of columns and articles in publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, TIME, Newsweek, and The Times of India. He was a contributing editor for Newsweek International for two years.

From 2010 to 2012, he wrote a column in The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle. 
Tharoor is a globally recognized speaker on India’s economics and politics, as well as on the freedom of the press, human rights, Indian culture, and international affairs.
In 1998, the World Economic Forum in Davos named him a ‘Global Leader of Tomorrow’.  He is also a recipient of several awards that include a Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, India’s highest honour for overseas nationals. 
In 2012, the King of Spain awarded him the Encomienda de la Real Order Espanola de Carlos III. 
Among numerous other awards are one for ‘New Age Politician of the Year’ from NDTV, the Hakim Khan Sur Award for National Integration, and the Priyadarshini Award for Excellence in Diplomacy.