Indian Literary Theorist Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak Honored with the 2025 Holberg Prize.

Awards | Dated: 20 Mar 2025

In March 2025, Indian literary theorist and postcolonial scholar Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak was announced as the recipient of the 2025 Holberg Prize. The award honors her pioneering contributions to postcolonial studies, feminist theory, and literary criticism.

🎯 Key Highlights:

  • - The prestigious prize, worth USD 540,000 (Rs. 4.6 crore), will be conferred on June 5, 2025, at the University of Bergen, Norway, by Crown Prince Haakon of Norway.
  • - The Holberg Prize is an international award presented annually by the Norwegian government to scholars for outstanding contributions in arts, humanities, social sciences, law, and theology. Established in 2003 in honor of Danish-Norwegian writer Ludvig Holberg, it is often considered the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in these disciplines.

💡 Other Important Facts:

  • (i) Born in West Bengal (WB), Gayatri Spivak became a University Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University, USA, in 2007. She is widely known for translating Jacques Derrida's De la Grammatologie and her influential essay Can the Subaltern Speak?.
  • (ii) She received the Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy in 2012, Japan’s highest private award for lifetime achievement in arts and sciences. In 2013, she was honored with the Padma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian award, for her contributions to Literature and Education.
  • (iii) Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak has authored nine books, including In Other Worlds: Essays in Cultural Politics (1987) and A Critique of Postcolonial Reason (1999). Her works have been translated into over 20 languages, shaping postcolonial studies worldwide.

📚 Test Your Knowledge:

Which Indian literary theorist was recently honored with the 2025 Holberg Prize?

Correct Answer: Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak

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