Book One Lecture

Vikram Chandra will discuss his book Geek Sublime: The Beauty of Code, the Code of Beauty. Chandra is the author of two novels, Sacred Games (2006) and Red Earth and Pouring Rain (1995), a collection of short stories, Love and Longing in Bombay (1998), and most recently, Geek Sublime. He is also a two-time recipient of the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, the David Higham Prize for Fiction, and the Discovery (Plimpton) Prize from the Paris Review.  In 2014, Geek Sublime was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism, a NPR Best Book, and the New York Times Notable Book. Born in Mumbai, Vikram graduated from Pomona College in California with a BA in English and a concentration in Creative Writing.

He attended film school at Columbia University, but dropped out to write. He later earned an MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Houston. In addition to his three works of fiction, Chandra co-wrote the screenplay for an Indian feature film, Mission Kashmir (2000). In keeping with his transnational storytelling style, Chandra divides his time between California, where he teaches at UC Berkeley, and Mumbai. A computer programmer for almost as long as he has been a novelist, in Geek Sublime, Chandra searches for the connections between the worlds of art and technology. Geek Sublime was published in 2014 by Graywolf Press.  

Inaugurated in 2005, the Book One program asks the members of the incoming class to read the first book of the General Education program - and their college careers - over the summer. Each year, a book is selected based on excellence and suitability for promoting interdisciplinary conversations about the intersection of cultures.