- English writer Amitav Ghosh has been honoured with this year’s Jnanpith Award 2018 (54th Award).
- The decision was taken in a meeting of Jnanpith Selection Board chaired by eminent novelist, scholar and Jnanpith laureate Pratibha Ray.
- According to the Bharatiya Jnanpith, Amitav Ghosh is a path-breaking novelist. In his novels, Ghosh treads through historical settings to the modern era and weaves a space where the past connects with the present in relevant ways.
- Ghosh, one of the most prominent contemporary Indian writers, is known for a series of novels such as “Shadow Lines”, “The Glass Palace”, “The Hungry Tide”, and Ibis Trilogy “Sea of Poppies”, “River of Smoke”, and “Flood of Fire” chronicling the Opium trade between India and China run by the East India Company.
- Ghosh is also recipient of the Padma Shri and Sahitya Akademi Award.
- The Jnanpith Award is presented by the Bharatiya Jnanpith, established by the Shahu Shanti Prasad Jain.
