Amitav Ghosh received the Jnanpith Award in 2018. What made his award historically significant?
- He was the first overseas Indian to receive the award
- He was the first writer from West Bengal to receive the award
- He was the youngest recipient in the award's history
- He was the first writer in English to receive it — English eligible only from 2013
Answer: He was the first writer in English to receive the Jnanpith Award — English had been made eligible only in 2013
Amitav Ghosh received the 54th Jnanpith Award in 2018. English was added to the list of eligible languages in 2013, and Ghosh became the first — and, as of 2025, the only — writer in English to win the award. His novels engage with colonialism, migration, and environmental history across the Indian Ocean world.