Amitav Ghosh: podcast appearances and interviews

Amitav Ghosh is an American writer known for his work exploring national and personal identity, particularly within the context of India and South Asia. Born on July 11, 1956, he has authored both historical fiction and non-fiction, addressing topics such as colonialism and climate change. His novels feature complex narrative strategies that examine the cultural and historical forces shaping the region. Ghosh studied at The Doon School in Dehradun and earned a doctorate in social anthropology from the University of Oxford. His career includes work at the Indian Express newspaper in New Delhi as well as positions at academic institutions. His literary debut was the novel The Circle of Reason, published in 1986, followed by notable works including The Shadow Lines and The Glass Palace. Between 2004 and 2015, he developed the Ibis trilogy, which centers on the build-up and consequences of the First Opium War. His non-fiction includes In an Antique Land and The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable, published in 2016. Ghosh has received multiple awards, including the Jnanpith award in 2018, India’s highest literary honor. He holds two Lifetime Achievement awards and four honorary doctorates. In 2007, he received the Padma Shri, one of India's highest honors, and he was awarded the Dan David prize jointly with Margaret Atwood in 2010. He was also the first English-language writer to win the Grand Prix of the Blue Metropolis festival in Montreal. In 2019, Foreign Policy magazine recognized him as one of the most important global thinkers of the decade.