Literary theorist and scholar Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak has been awarded the 2025 Holberg Prize of Norway.

Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee was one of the first to react on social media.

“I congratulate our Professor Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak on her attaining yet another top international recognition. She has been chosen this year for the Holberg Prize of Norway, which is considered to be a top prize in humanities and social sciences. She makes us proud by this attainment of this highest honour,” Banerjee wrote on her X (formerly Twitter) handle on Monday morning.

The Holberg Prize, funded by the Norwegian government and managed by the University of Bergen on behalf of the Norwegian ministry of education and research, is given annually to a researcher in the fields of humanities, social sciences, law or theology.

“Professor Spivak is widely known for her contributions to literary theory and philosophy. But I have been also charmed by her long and sustained association with pro-poor voluntary services in some remote villages of West Bengal. Her endeavours to get translated the all-time classics of Bengali literature into English constitute a project that inspires us,” the chief minister wrote.

Kolkata-born Spivak has been given the award for “groundbreaking interdisciplinary research in comparative literature, translation, postcolonial studies, political philosophy and feminist theory”.

The Holberg committee’s chair Heike Kreiger said: “As a public intellectual and activist, Spivak combats illiteracy in marginalised rural communities across several countries, including in West Bengal, India where she has founded, funded and participated in education initiatives.”

A professor in humanities at Columbia University in New York, Spivak, an alumna of Calcutta and Cornell universities, has written nine books and edited, translated several others.

“For Spivak, rigorous creativity must intersect with local initiatives to provide alternatives to intellectual colonialism,” the citation of the Holberg committee states. “Spivak’s works challenged readers, students, and researchers to ‘train the imagination’ through a sustained study of literature and culture.”

The award, which includes a cash prize of $540,000 will be presented to Spivak at the University of Bergen on June 5.