Sethi's first book,
A Free Man, was a non-fiction work about the life of an individual named Mohammed Ashraf, but also about Delhi and its transformation. It won the 2011
Crossword Book Award.
Oprah Winfrey's website endorsed Sethi's debut book as one of the must reads of November, 2012. Sethi was also awarded the
Yuva Puraskar (Youth Award) by the
Sahitya Akademi for the best English book written by a young author in 2012. In 2015, he
returned the award to express "solidarity with several eminent writers who have recently returned their awards to highlight their concern and anxiety over the shrinking space for free expression and growing intolerance towards difference of opinion". ==References==