Vikram Seth was once a graduate student in economics at Stanford

That was in the heyday of the game theory years at that school.  Then he became a famous author.  And now:

But an author like Seth who commands million dollar advances and who took eight years to write the voluminous A Suitable Boy, works on his own terms. He does not share his manuscripts with anyone until he is ready and will not be bullied by publishers, having once said, not entirely in jest, it was his job to get the money out of publishers and it was the publishers’ job to get the book out of him.

Penguin Random House has in turned asked for its $1.7 million advance back, as they are still awaiting his delivery of a sequel A Suitable Girl.  The story is here, and for the pointer I thank Yogesh.  Seth never finished his doctorate at Stanford but A Suitable Boy is one of my favorite modern novels.