Gratiaen Trust announcement of shortlist and Panel of Judges on Monday

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2014 Gratiaen Prize and H.A.I. Goonetileke Prize for Translation

The much-anticipated shortlist announcement for the 2014 Gratiaen Prize will take place on Monday 11 May at the British Council premises, Alfred House Gardens, Colombo 3. The event is open to the public and all are welcome.

Founded in 1993 by the Booker-Prize-Winner Michael Ondaatje, the Prize is awarded to the best work in English by a resident Sri Lankan writer and both manuscript and published submissions are eligible. As in previous years, the British Council is hosting the 2014 shortlist announcement. The Main Prize event will be held on Friday 12 June at the Park Street Mews, Colombo.

Standard Chartered Bank, continuing its long affiliation with the Grataien Prize, is supporting the prize event as in previous years. The judges for the 2014 Gratiaen Prize are: Sonali Deraniyagala (Chair), internationally-acclaimed for the memoir Wave and holds a PhD in Economics from Oxford University; Dinali Fernando, a well-known language and literature scholar and Senior Lecturer at the Department of English, University of Kelaniya; and Jehan Aloysius, an accomplished theatre professional with many years of experience in acting, directing and writing. For further information on the judges and past winners with extracts of their work, see www.gratiaen.com.

The Gratiaen Prize as the only literary prize devoted to Sri Lankan writing in English has contributed to fostering and promoting Sri Lankan literary talent. With the growing global imprint of Sri Lankan writing in English, the Gratiaen Prize’s unique position as a prize awarded to resident Sri Lankans has helped Sri Lankan English language authors based in Sri Lanka gain regional and international recognition. A number of Gratiaen winning authors were also featured in the recently concluded inaugural Annasi and Kadalagotu Literary festival, which hosted a panel dedicated to the Gratiaen Prize.

The H.A.I. Goonetileke Prize for Translation, which aims to promote greater artistic collaboration between Sinhala, Tamil and English literature is also being awarded this year. The judges for the 2014 H.A.I. Goonetileke Prize are: Sunil Wijesiriwardhane (Chair), a widely-recognised playwright, cultural commentator and social activist who holds a PhD from Moscow University; Prof. Kusuma Karunaratne, Emeritus Professor, University of Colombo; and Krishantha Fedricks, a cultural critic and Senior Lecturer in Sinhala language and linguistics at the Department of Sinhala, University of Colombo.