Awards

  • Erasmus Prize 2024
  • Doctorate, Honoris Causa, University of Lucerne, Switzerland, 2024.
  • International Prize of the Dialoghi di Pistoia Festival, Italy, 2023.
  • Honorary Doctorate, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Holland
  • Jnanpith Award, 2018
  • Lifetime Achievement Award, Times of India festival, Mumbai, 2018
  • Utah Award in the Environmental Humanities – 2018
  • Lifetime Achievement Award, Tata Literature Live festival, Mumbai, 2017
  • Honorary Doctorate, University of Puget Sound, 2014
  • Myanmar National Literature Award (The Glass PalaceBurmese translation by U Nay Win Myint) 2012
  • Tagore Literature Award, Sahitya Akademi (Sea of Poppies) 2012
  • Shortlisted Man Booker Asian Prize (River of Smoke) 2012
  • Blue Metropolis International Literary Grand Prix 2011
  • Doctorate, Honoris Causa, Sorbonne, 2010.
  • Dan David Prize 2010.
  • Honorary degree , Queens College, City University of New York, 2010.
  • Indiaplaza Golden Quill Popular Vote Award, (Sea of Poppies), 2009.
  • Indiaplaza Golden Quill Award for best novel, (Sea of Poppies), 2009.
  • Crossword Book Award, for best novel of the year, (Sea of Poppies), 2009.
  • Shortlisted, Man Booker Prize, 2008 (Sea of Poppies).
  • Asian-American Literary Award for non-fiction (for Incendiary Circumstances), 2007.
  • Grinzane Cavour Prize for lifetime achievement, Turin, Italy, 2007.
  • Awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India, 2007.
  • Finalist, Kiriyama Prize, San Francisco, 2006 (The Hungry Tide).
  • Crossword Book Award, for best novel of the year (The Hungry Tide), 2005, Mumbai.
  • Grand Prize for Fiction, Frankfurt eBook Award, 2001 (The Glass Palace).
  • The Pushcart Prize, for (‘The March of the Novel through History: The Testimony of my Grandfather’s Bookcase’), 1999.
  • Nomination for American Society of Magazine Editors Award, for reporting (Countdown, 1999).
  • The Arthur C. Clark Award, 1996, (The Calcutta Chromosome).
  • Best American Essays, 1995, (‘The Ghosts of Mrs Gandhi’).
  • The Annual Award of the Sahitya Akademi (Indian Academy of Literature), 1990, (The Shadow Lines).
  • The Ananda Puraskar, Calcutta, 1990,(The Shadow Lines).
  • The Prix Medicis Étrangère, (Paris), 1990, (The Circle of Reason).