The layered narrations and stories paint a realistic world

Amitav Ghosh is an Indian writer best known for his English fiction writing and what draws one to this style of writing is his unexplainable connection to water bodies that you might find throughout his writings. His writing is also known for intertwining history, life experiences and sewing them together into sentences.

Born in Kolkata, Ghosh spent his formative years in India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, while he studied in Delhi, Oxford and Alexandria he writes both fiction and non-fiction and has penned 15 books so far. Here's a list of his books that prove his magic with words.

The Circle of Reason This is Ghosh's debut novel and revolves around Alu, an orphan, narrating his journey spanning across years and continents. The story goes on when Alu's foster-father enlists him as a soldier and how after some unfortunate situation travels from Calcutta to Goa onto a fishing trawler that brings him illegally to Africa.

The Shadow Lines It is a funny and moving story of a young boy who travels across time and boundaries, through the memories and tales of people around him. But as he grows older, he is traumatized by a violent situation. Through the memories, relationships, and images, the author with his power of words builds a funny and moving story.

The Calcutta Chromosome Ghosh wonthe Arthur C. Clarke Award for this 1996 book. The story begins in the future and goes back to the 19th century following the protagonist L. Murugan who is in search of what he calls the 'Calcutta Chromosome'. It is a science thriller that beautifully depicts the Victorian era and contemporary India.

In an Antique Land A multi-genre book, this book entails everything from travel writing to history to anthropology and very efficiently blurring the difference between fiction and non-fiction. This book comes from Ghosh at a time when he was living in small villages and towns of Egypt and highlights the ties between the two countries--India and Egypt-- and the people of various religions, as a result, is oozing of Ghosh’s anecdotes and a bit of imagination.

Ghosh has been honoured with 2018’s Jnanpith Award, a literary recognition given to an author for ‘outstanding contribution towards literature. He has also been given the Sahitya Akademi Award for his 1988 novel, The Shadow Lines. He is also a recipient of the prestigious Padma Shri award.