The 2025 Holberg Prize has been awarded to esteemed Indian scholar Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak in recognition of her groundbreaking contributions to the fields of literary theory and philosophy. This award is funded by the Norwegian government and managed by the University of Bergen on behalf of the Norwegian ministry of education and research. The award, which includes a cash prize of $540,000 will be presented to Spivak at the University of Bergen on June 5.
Throughout her illustrious career, Spivak has made profound impacts on various disciplines, including comparative literature, translation, postcolonial studies, political philosophy, and feminist theory. Her seminal essay, “Can the Subaltern Speak?” (1988), has become a foundational text in postcolonial studies, challenging Western scholarship and highlighting the struggles of minoritised groups.