Vikram Seth has written primarily poetry. He published his first volume of poetry, Mappings, in 1980. He has also published novels, travelogues, and a family memoir. His most famous travelogue, From Heaven Lake, was published in 1983 and recounts his experience hitchhiking from China to India via Tibet. In 1986 Seth published the verse novel The Golden Gate, and in 2005 he published the autobiography Two Lives.