Amitav Ghosh Awarded South Korea’s Prestgious Park Kyongni Prize

Photo:Toji Cultural Foundation

India-West News Desk

NEW YORK, NY — Amitav Ghosh, the celebrated Indian American novelist whose work spans colonial histories, climate crises, and global interconnections, has been named the winner of the 14th Park Kyongni Award, often described as South Korea’s answer to the Nobel Prize in Literature.

The prize marks another milestone in a career that has consistently intertwined literary brilliance with urgent global consciousness.

The award committee cited Ghosh’s “extraordinary ability to expand the horizons of postcolonial and ecological literature, giving voice to marginalized peoples and even nature itself with rigor and depth.”

Born in Kolkata in 1956, Ghosh first gained international attention with his 1986 debut, ‘The Circle of Reason’, which won France’s Prix Médicis. Since then, his novels—including ‘The Shadow Lines’ (1988), ‘The Calcutta Chromosome’ (1996), ‘The Glass Palace’ (2000), and the Booker-shortlisted Ibis Trilogy—have explored the human and environmental consequences of empire and trade, including the Opium Wars of the 19th century. His nonfiction work, ‘The Great Derangement’, has cemented his reputation as a sharp chronicler of climate change.

This year’s selection process began with 113 novelists and culminated in a shortlist of three: Egypt’s Salwa Bakr, Ireland’s John Banville, and Ghosh.

Established in 2011 to honor the legacy of Pak Kyong-ni, author of the epic ‘Toji (The Land)’, the award recognizes “writers worldwide who have shaped the course of literature while preserving its intrinsic value,” according to the Toji Cultural Foundation. Ghosh will receive 100 million won (roughly $75,000), a plaque, and a certificate of merit at the ceremony on Oct. 23 in Seoul.

Ghosh, 68, lives in New York with his wife, Deborah Baker, a senior editor and biographer, and their two children, Lila and Nayan.