Amitav Ghosh

Amitav Ghosh is one of the most important writers in the English language, an Indian author whose novels, essays, and non-fiction span continents and centuries while grappling with the great forces shaping our world. Born in Calcutta in 1956, he grew up in India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, studied at Delhi University and Oxford, and earned his PhD in social anthropology from the University of Oxford. Ghosh's novels are celebrated for their epic scope, meticulous historical research, and literary ambition. His works include The Shadow Lines, which won the Sahitya Akademi Award, The Glass Palace, The Hungry Tide, and the Ibis Trilogy — Sea of Poppies, River of Smoke, and Flood of Fire — a sweeping narrative of the opium trade between India and China. Sea of Poppies was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2008. His non-fiction, including The Great Derangement and The Nutmeg's Curse, addresses climate change and colonialism with moral urgency. Ghosh has received numerous honours, including India's Padma Shri and the Jnanpith Award, the highest literary honour in India. His audiobooks and books offer listeners and readers richly imagined worlds where personal stories illuminate the vast historical forces of trade, empire, migration, and environmental crisis.