Amitav Ghosh as been named as the winner of the Erasmus Prize 2024. The prize from the The Premium Erasmianum Foundation will be presented to Ghosh for his contribution to the theme ‘imagining the unthinkable’.
Ghosh has been credited for his writings on climate change which makes the unimaginable consequences of climate change palpable through compelling stories about the past. His writings show that the climate crisis is a cultural crisis that results from a dearth of the imagination.
In his non-fiction book The Nutmeg’s Curse, Ghosh traces the current planetary crisis back to a disastrous vision that reduces the earth to a raw material. In his essay The Great Derangement he challenges readers to view climate change through the geopolitical context of war and trade. These writings have received appreciation for propagating a new form of humanism which not only emphasizes on equality but also encourages abandoning any distinction between man and nature.
Born in Kolkata in 1956, Ghosh studied social anthropology at Oxford. He has spent a major part of his life in U.S. and India. He has produced a vast body of work, made up of both historical novels and journalistic essays that touch places across the world. The winner of the 2018 Janpath award makes major themes such as migration, diaspora, and cultural identity tangible by giving them a human linked dimension.
The Erasmus Prize is awarded annually to an individual or institution that has made an exceptional contribution to the field of humanities or the arts. His Majesty the King of the Netherlands is Patron of the Foundation. The Erasmus Prize consists of € 150,000 in prize money. The prize will be presented in the autumn of 2024.
