Connecticut, New Haven, USA: An Indian-origin academic has earned global recognition for her groundbreaking study on everyday texts in the British Empire and their influence on colonial society.
Priyasha Mukhopadhyay, who serves as an Assistant Professor of English at Yale University, has been chosen as the recipient of the 2025 Gaddis Smith International Book Prize, presented by the Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies. She received the award for her book “Required Reading: The Life of Everyday Texts in the British Empire” (Princeton University Press, 2024).
The MacMillan Center made the announcement on September 2, highlighting that the International Book Prizes are among Yale University’s highest distinctions for scholarly writing. Since their inception in 2004, these prizes have recognized outstanding works on global history and empire. Each honoree is granted a research fellowship at the Center along with $5,000 to support future academic work.
Mukhopadhyay’s book delves into how ordinary publications—such as instructional manuals, state documents, and almanacs—played a significant role in shaping the political thinking and imaginative worlds of readers in colonial South Asia. The judging committee praised her research as “thorough, stylistically elegant, innovative in its insights, and exemplary in interdisciplinary scholarship.”
She further emphasizes that even fragmented or resistant reading practices became crucial for people as they navigated and responded to imperial dominance.
This latest honor follows another recognition she received earlier in June, when the Yale Faculty of Arts and Sciences awarded her the Samuel and Ronnie Heyman Prize for exceptional contributions to the humanities.
Mukhopadhyay completed her PhD in English at the University of Oxford, after earning her undergraduate, master’s, and MPhil degrees at the University of Delhi.
Alongside her award, the 2025 Gustav Ranis International Book Prize was presented to Professor Paul Benton for his research in global history. Previous recipients include Stephanie Newell, recognized for her studies on West African literature, and Egor Lazarev, honored for his work on law and state-building in Chechnya.
