Amitav Ghosh | |
|---|---|
 Ghosh in 2017 | |
| Born | (1956-07-11)11 July 1956 (age 68)[1] Calcutta,West Bengal,India |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | Indian[2] |
| Alma mater | University of Delhi (BA,MA) University of Oxford (PhD) |
| Genre | Historical fiction |
| Notable works | The Shadow Lines,The Glass Palace,Ibis trilogy,The Great Derangement |
| Notable awards | Jnanpith Award Sahitya Akademi Award Ananda Puraskar Dan David Prize Padma Shri Erasmus Prize |
| Spouse | Deborah Baker (wife) |
| Website | |
| www | |
Amitav Ghosh (born 11 July 1956)[1] is anIndianwriter. He won the 54thJnanpith award in 2018, India's highest literary honour. Ghosh's ambitiousnovels use complex narrative strategies to probe the nature ofnational andpersonal identity, particularly of the people ofIndia andSouth Asia.[3] He has writtenhistorical fiction and non-fiction works discussing topics such ascolonialism andclimate change.
Ghosh studied atThe Doon School,Dehradun, and earned a doctorate insocial anthropology at theUniversity of Oxford. He worked at theIndian Express newspaper inNew Delhi and several academic institutions. His first novel,The Circle of Reason, was published in 1986, which he followed with later fictional works, includingThe Shadow Lines andThe Glass Palace. Between 2004 and 2015, he worked on theIbis trilogy, which revolves around the build-up and implications of theFirst Opium War. His non-fiction work includesIn an Antique Land (1992) andThe Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable (2016).
Ghosh holds two Lifetime Achievement awards and fourhonorary doctorates. In 2007, he was awarded thePadma Shri, one of India's highest honours, by thePresident of India. In 2010, he was a joint winner, along withMargaret Atwood, of aDan David prize, and in 2011, he was awarded the Grand Prix of theBlue Metropolis festival inMontreal. He was the first English-language writer to receive the award. In 2019,Foreign Policy magazine named him one of the most important global thinkers of the preceding decade.[4]
Ghosh was born inCalcutta on 11 July 1956 and was educated at the all-boys boarding schoolThe Doon School inDehradun. He grew up inIndia,Bangladesh, andSri Lanka. His contemporaries at Doon included authorVikram Seth and historianRam Guha.[5] While at school, he regularly contributedfiction andpoetry toThe Doon School Weekly (then edited by Seth) and founded the magazineHistory Times along with Guha.[6][7][8] After Doon, he received degrees fromSt Stephen's College and theDelhi School of Economics, both part ofDelhi University.
Ghosh then won the Inlaks Foundation scholarship to complete aD. Phil. insocial anthropology atSt Edmund Hall, Oxford, under the supervision of British social anthropologistPeter Lienhardt.[9] His thesis, undertaken in the Faculty of Anthropology and Geography, was entitled, "Kinship in relation to economic and social organization in an Egyptian village community", and submitted in 1982.[10]
Ghosh returned to India to begin working on theIbis trilogy, which includesSea of Poppies (2008),River of Smoke (2011), andFlood of Fire (2015).
In 2007, Ghosh was awarded thePadma Shri by theIndian government.[11] In 2009, he was elected a Fellow of theRoyal Society of Literature.[12] In 2015, he was named aFord Foundation Art of Change Fellow.[13]
Ghosh currently lives inNew York with his wife,Deborah Baker, author of theLaura Riding biographyIn Extremis: The Life of Laura Riding (1993) and a senior editor atLittle, Brown and Company. They have two children, Lila and Nayan.
Ghosh'shistorical fiction novels includeThe Circle of Reason (his 1986debut novel),The Shadow Lines (1988),The Calcutta Chromosome (1996),The Glass Palace (2000),The Hungry Tide (2004), andGun Island (2019).[14]
Ghosh began working on theIbis trilogy in 2004.[15] Set in the 1830s, its story follows the build-up of theFirst Opium War acrossChina and theIndian Ocean region.[16] Its consists ofSea of Poppies (2008),River of Smoke (2011), andFlood of Fire (2015).[17][18]
Most of Ghosh's work deals with historical settings, especially in the Indian Ocean periphery. In an interview with historian Mahmood Kooria, he said:
It was not intentional, but sometimes things are intentional without being intentional. Though it was never part of a planned venture and did not begin as a conscious project, I realise in hindsight that this is really what always interested me most: theBay of Bengal, theArabian Sea, theIndian Ocean, and the connections and the cross-connections between these regions.[19]
The Shadow Lines, according to oneblogger, "throws light on the phenomenon ofcommunal violence and the way its roots have spread deeply and widely in the collective psyche of theIndian subcontinent".[20]
Gun Island, published in 2019, deals withclimate change andhuman migration, drew praise from critics.[21] According to a review in theColumbia Journal,
This is Ghosh at his tenacious, exhausted best—marrying a mythical tale from his homeland with the plight of the human condition, all the while holding up a mirror to the country that he now calls home, as well as providing a perhaps too optimistic perspective on the future of our climate![22]
The novel creates a world of realistic fiction, challenging the agency of its readers to act upon the demands of the environment. The use of religion,magical realism, coincidences, and climate change come together to create a wholesome story of strife, trauma, adventure, and mystery. The reader takes on the journey to solve the story of "the Gun Merchant" and launches themselves into the destruction of nature and the effects of human actions. Ghosh transforms the novel through his main character, his story, and the very prevalent climate crisis. The novel is advertently a call to action intertwined in an entertaining plot.The Guardian however, noted Ghosh's tendency to go on tangents, calling it "ashaggy dog story" that "can take a very roundabout path towards reality, but it will get there in the end".[23]
In 2021, Ghosh published his first book in verse,Jungle Nama, which explores theSundarbans legend ofBon Bibi.[24]
Ghosh's notablenon-fiction writings includeIn an Antique Land (1992),Dancing in Cambodia and at Large in Burma (1998),Countdown (1999), andThe Imam and the Indian (2002), a collection of essays on themes such asfundamentalism, thehistory of the novel,Egyptian culture, andliterature.[citation needed] His writings have appeared in newspapers and magazines in India and abroad.[citation needed]
InThe Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable (2016), Ghosh accuses modern literature and art of failing to adequately addressclimate change.[25] InThe Nutmeg's Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis (2021), Ghosh follows the journey ofnutmeg from its nativeBanda Islands to many other parts of the world, using the spice as a lens through which to understand the historical influence ofcolonialism upon attitudes towardsIndigenous cultures andenvironmental change.[26][27] In his latest work,Smoke and Ashes: A Writer's Journey Through Opium's Hidden Histories (2023), Ghosh discusses the history ofopium, focusing on its colonial history and legacy in India and China and its connection to modern corporate practices, such asPurdue Pharma's role in the ongoingUS opioid epidemic. Its discussion of the lead-up to theFirst Opium War in the 1830s also serves as background to Ghosh's fictionalIbis trilogy.[28]
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The Circle of Reason (1986) won thePrix Médicis étranger, one of France's top literary awards.[29]The Shadow Lines (1988) won theSahitya Akademi Award and theAnanda Puraskar.[30]The Calcutta Chromosome (1996) won theArthur C. Clarke Award in 1997.[31]Sea of Poppies (2008), the first installment of theIbis trilogy, was shortlisted for the 2008Man Booker Prize.[32] It was the co-winner of theVodafone Crossword Book Award in 2009, as well as co-winner of the 2010Dan David Prize.[33][34]River of Smoke (2011), the secondIbis installment, was shortlisted for theMan Asian Literary Prize 2011.
Ghosh famously withdrew his novelThe Glass Palace (2000) from consideration for theCommonwealth Writers' Prize, where it was awarded the best novel in the Eurasian section, citing his objections to the term "Commonwealth" and the unfairness of the English-language requirement specified in the rules.[35][36]
The government of India awarded Ghosh the civilian honour ofPadma Shri in 2007.[37] He received a lifetime achievement award at Tata Literature Live, the Mumbai LitFest, on 20 November 2016.[38] He was conferred the 54thJnanpith award in December 2018 and is the first Indian writer in English to have been chosen for this honour.[39]
Ghosh was awarded theErasmus Prize 2024, specifically for his writing on climate change: "His work offers a remedy by making an uncertain future palpable through compelling stories about the past. He also wields his pen to show that the climate crisis is a cultural crisis that results from a dearth of the imagination."[40]
His bookSmoke and Ashes: Opium’s Hidden Histories, made the 2024British Academy Book Prize shortlist.[41]
Novels
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