Erasmus Prize 2024 awarded to Amitav Ghosh

Nature has been an important character in his work ever since he conducted research into the tidal landscape of the Sundarbans for his book The Hungry Tide and witnessed how climate change and rising sea levels were ravaging the area. Drawing from the rich history of the Indian subcontinent, Ghosh describes how, in that part of the world where he was born, the effects of natural catastrophes have been inextricably linked with human destiny for a very long time. In his compelling Ibis trilogy, set against the backdrop of poppy cultivation and opium wars, he shows how colonialism has left equally deep scars in the landscape.

Nature has been an important character in his work ever since he conducted research into the tidal landscape of the Sundarbans for his book The Hungry Tide and witnessed how climate change and rising sea levels were ravaging the area. Drawing from the rich history of the Indian subcontinent, Ghosh describes how, in that part of the world where he was born, the effects of natural catastrophes have been inextricably linked with human destiny for a very long time. In his compelling Ibis trilogy, set against the backdrop of poppy cultivation and opium wars, he shows how colonialism has left equally deep scars in the landscape.

In his non-fiction book The Nutmeg's Curse he traces the current planetary crisis back to a disastrous vision that reduces the earth to raw material, soulless and mechanical. In his essay The Great Derangement he challenges readers to view climate change through the geopolitical context of war and trade. Through understanding and imagination he creates space for hope, a prerequisite for change. Thus, Ghosh propagates a new humanism in which not only all people are equal, but humanity also abandons the distinction between man and nature.

Ghosh has won various prizes, among them the 2018 Jnanpith Award, the highest literary prize in India. In 2019 he received an honorary doctorate from Maastricht University and was ranked by Foreign Policy magazine as one of the most important global thinkers of our time.

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.

 

 

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