Amitav Ghosh grew up in Bangladesh, then east Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Iran and India. After graduatine at the University of Delhi, he studied social antropology in Oxford. He is both a writer and antropologist, and certainly one of the most famous indian writers writing in English. Before publishing his first book, he attended the Arts department ar the Uiversity of Alexandria and worked as a journalist for Indian express. With "Il cerchio della ragione" he won the prestigious Prix Médicis Etranger, and with "Le linee d'ombra" he received the Sahitya Akademi Award, the most prestigious literary indian award. In 1997 "Cromosoma Calcutta" received the Arthur Clarcke Award and "Il palazzo degli specchi" received the International Fiction Prize at the Frankfurt Fair. In addition to novels he has written numerous antropology essays for which he was awarded the Pushcart Prize. He now lives in New York where he teaches comparative literature at the Columbia University.

(photo: © Giliola Chistè)