Ignoring environmental factors and excluding indigenous knowledge is fuelling recurring disasters: Amitav Ghosh

Amitav Ghosh is one of the most celebrated contemporary authors, renowned for his deeply insightful and thought-provoking works that explore themes of history, culture, colonialism, climate change and the interconnectedness of human and natural worlds.

- ANWESHA SANTRA

Born in Kolkata in 1956, Ghosh studied in India, Oxford and Alexandria, which shaped his global perspective and intellectual curiosity. His acclaimed novels, including The Hungry Tide, The Shadow Lines, The Glass Palace and the Ibis Trilogy, combine historical depth with literary elegance, blending fiction with rich cultural and ecological narratives. A passionate advocate for addressing climate change, Ghosh's non-fiction works, such as The Great Derangement, challenge conventional storytelling to reflect the urgency of the anthropocene.

Honoured with prestigious awards like the Jnanpith Award, Ghosh continues to redefine the boundaries of literature, offering readers keen insights into the complexities of the world we inhabit.

Sitting in conversation with The Statesman, Amitav Ghosh speaks about his latest work, Wild Fictions, which gathers his remarkable reflections on themes that have deeply engaged him over the past twenty-five years: literature and language, climate change and the environment, human lives, travel, and discovery. A recurring motif throughout this expansive collection is the relationship between the spaces humans inhabit and the ways they occupy them. From the commodification of the clove to the rich biodiversity of Bengal's mangrove forests and the radical fluidity of multilingualism, Wild Fictions serves as an acute critique of imperial violence, a compelling examination of the narratives we create to process history and a poignant call for sensitivity and empathy.

Following are the excerpts:

Q. In your discussions in Wild Fictions, you highlight the significance of recognising non-human entities as active participants in history. How does literature effectively reframe narratives to incorporate the agency of plants, animals and ecosystems, thereby challenging anthropocentric storytelling?