Amitav Ghosh is an Indian writer known for his ambitious novels that probe the nature of national and personal identity, particularly of the people of India and South Asia. He won the 54th Jnanpith award in 2018, India's highest literary honour.

Ghosh's work encompasses both historical fiction and non-fiction. His writings often discuss topics such as colonialism and climate change. Ghosh studied at The Doon School in Dehradun and earned a doctorate in social anthropology from the University of Oxford.

He began his career at the Indian Express newspaper in New Delhi and has worked with various academic institutions. His first novel, The Circle of Reason, was published in 1986, followed by other notable works such as The Shadow Lines and The Glass Palace.

Between 2004 and 2015, Ghosh wrote the Ibis trilogy, focused on the First Opium War. His non-fiction includes In an Antique Land (1992) and The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable (2016).

Ghosh has been recognized with numerous accolades, including two Lifetime Achievement awards, four honorary doctorates, the Padma Shri in 2007, and the Dan David prize in 2010. In 2011, he was awarded the Grand Prix of the Blue Metropolis festival, becoming the first English-language writer to receive this award.

In 2019, Foreign Policy magazine named him one of the most important global thinkers of the preceding decade.