Indian author Amitav Ghosh has been shortlisted for the British Academy Book Prize for Global Cultural Understanding 2024, a leading international non-fiction prize now in its 12thyear.
Ghosh’s ‘Smoke and Ashes: Opium's Hidden Histories’ is in the running along with five other international titles for the prize open to authors of any nationality based anywhere in the world and working in any language, provided that the nominated work is available in the English language. The Kolkata-born author, who is based in the US, was hailed by the judges for his “storytelling skills to bring to life this highly readable travelogue, memoir and history”.
Ghosh said: “News of ‘Smoke and Ashes’ being nominated for the British Academy's Book Prize fills me with immense gratitude and excitement. The Academy is a storied institution, and it is a great honour to be included in this extremely distinguished shortlist.
“This recognition underscores the importance of exploring the entanglements between human history and the planetary environment, a theme central to the book.”
In ‘Smoke and Ashes: Opium's Hidden Histories’, Amitav Ghosh draws on decades of archival research for his Ibis Trilogy novels to trace the economic and cultural impact of the global opium trade from the 18th century to the present-day opium crisis and the Oxycontin scandal in the USA.
Others on this year's shortlist include:
Ed Conway – ‘Material World: A Substantial Story of Our Past and Future’
Kate Kitagawa and Timothy Revell – ‘The Secret Lives of Numbers: A Global History of Mathematics & Its Unsung Trailblazers’
Marcy Norton – ‘The Tame and the Wild: People and Animals after 1492’
Ross Perlin – ‘Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues’
Annabel Sowemimo – ‘Divided: Racism, Medicine and Why We Need to Decolonise Healthcare’
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Chair of Judges Professor Charles Tripp, Fellow of the British Academy, said: “This year’s exceptional shortlist highlights a wide range of topics: the secret world of raw materials; race and the healthcare system; endangered languages; a global history of the opium trade; the origins of mathematics and its unsung trailblazers; and relationships between humans and animals in the context of colonisation.
“We were greatly impressed by the quality of writing and the depth of research but also by the lengths our writers are prepared to go to highlight urgent global issues and to honour those who have made a difference. At a time when it feels as if global cultural understanding is somewhat lacking, we hope the British Academy Book Prize and these six books will play a part in changing the way we perceive our shared world."
The winner of this year’s £25,000 prize is set to be announced at an awards ceremony in London on October 22, with each of the shortlisted writers to receive £1,000.
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Last year’s winner was Indian-origin author Nandini Das for ‘Courting India: England, Mughal India and the Origins of Empire’. A digital exhibition of photographs by Kolkata-based artist, curator and educator Arko Datto was specially commissioned to bring to life the themes of Das' winning title, which is being showcased at the British Academy as part of London's Open House Festival on September 15.
*Info: The British Academy
