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Bold and dramatic, simple and frank
Two books: one still a manuscript, the other published; one an intricate play, the other a simple narrative. Both tell the story of Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict and its impact on the lives of people, yet each choosing to do it in his/her own individual style. 'In the Shadow of the Gun' and 'The Wicked Witch' by Sivamohan Sumathy, for a decidedly dramatic and bold approach and 'Sam's Story' by Elmo Jayawardene for its frank, unobtrusive style were jointly acknowledged as the best works of literary writing in English for 2001.

The Gratiaen Prize, awarded annually for the best literary work in English by a resident Sri Lankan writer, was founded in 1993 by Michael Ondaatje shortly after he was named a joint winner of the Booker Prize for 'The English Patient'. A cash prize of Rs. 100,000 is awarded to the winner. A panel of three judges makes its selection from a miscellaneous collection of work ranging from fiction to poetry, drama to short story, literary memoir to translation either published during the previous year or in manuscript.

In its eight-year history, the Gratiaen has seen 12 winners having named joint winners for four years (including its year of inception).

Of the 38 entries sent in, the other writers short-listed were Madubhashini Ratnayake for her 'Tales of Shades and Shadow', author of 'Bicycles and Bombs' A.P.G. Saratchandra and Marisa Wickramanayake for her book of poetry 'Dreaming in Reality'.

Feminist writer and activist, Sivamohan Sumathy's play "In the Shadow of the Gun" is a story of a woman who is both a doctor and activist. Set during the height of an offensive, the protagonist comes across different women from all walks of life, who have been raped or shot or are simply out of a livelihood. Through seven episodes tracing the experiences of five women slung together by the narrative voice and performed by one woman, the play explores the concept of how women are exploited within nationalism.

'In the Shadow of the Gun', evolved from one of her previous plays, 'An Old 'Wives' Tale' which was a critique of nationalism, or as she terms it "my take on nationalism". It was only natural that this should follow. Although she wrote "In the Shadow of the Gun" in 1996, Sumathy feels some of the key issues and questions raised are still relevant, within the context of the peace process.

Sumathy, who took the role of the protagonist in the 'one-woman' show, first performed it in Australia where she had a very good response. 'An Old Wives' Tale', was first performed in Jaffna by the Women's Studies Programme and then in Canada. A bilingual version of it was performed for the South Asian Festival in 1997 by a group of Sri Lankan dramatists.

'Wicked Witch', which was also a part of Sumathy's entry for the Gratiaen Award, was born of the long power cut hours, when although she was no particular nature lover she found herself compelled to commune with nature. The play, located in history and mythology, traces the story of a woman who comes to the city from the forest and her fight to survive.

A senior lecturer attached to the Department of English, University of Peradeniya, Sumathy started writing poetry around the mid-80s. "I think I even wrote a play around that time, but that was only in draft form - and it never really saw the light of day." Most of her writings have been plays and, what she tries to achieve through them is to create a space for dialogue.

While schooling at Jaffna College, Sumathy and her two sisters were heavily involved in drama. It was out of her love for the performing arts that she began writing. "One thing I do consciously is to listen, pay attention to the things people say around me, without being judgmental. And it is in these casual exchanges between ordinary people that one acquires a wealth of awareness" - enough to write a play with.

Mother of a 17-year-old son, Sumathy did her degree at Peradeniya and her doctorate in Washington.

"I'm just an ordinary man," says Elmo Jayawardene, echoing the thoughts of his speech to the gathering at Gallery 706 on accepting the Gratiaen Award. Jayawardene spoke of leaving school at 17 after his O/Levels and of having been taught English in Sinhala while at school and in that light he considered himself "blessed".

'Sam's Story' is Jayawardene's debut. Narrated by the boy Sam who comes from a remote village to work in Colombo, 'Sam's Story' is about the poor man's concept of the ethnic conflict.

Although a work of fiction, the book is very 'real' in the sense that its base - the people and some of the situations - does actually exist. "Sam is my gardener and this is his life," says Jayawardene. "In writing my book I drew from the characters around me and then, like in any other work of fiction, I had to elaborate on the characters."

The book took him just eight months to write. The reason for this being that as an airline captain he finds himself with a lot of free time to write in-between flights, thus making this story one that has taken life, form and shape in various hotel rooms around the world.

Says Vijitha Yapa, publisher of 'Sam's Story', "I knew this book was a winner when I saw the manuscript. The simplicity of the language, used by the boy who is considered a simpleton, to convey profound ideas and the changing values within modern society is what I thought was striking about this work."

As Elmo Jayawardene is the founder of AFLAC International (Association for Lighting A Candle), an organisation working to alleviate poverty in Sri Lanka, every book sold means one step closer to achieving the objective of his organisation. So his only condition to his reading public is, "Don't lend the book".

Dr. Jayadeva Uyangoda, a social scientist attached to the University of Colombo chaired the panel of judges for the event and was joined by Dr. Hemamala Ratwatte, the Head of the Department of Languages at the Open University and Prof. Sitralega Maunaguru, who was the head of the Department of Languages at the Eastern University and is also a writer. The panel brought together three perspectives - that of the informed reader, the academic and the writer respectively. In the comments made by Dr. Uyangoda, he emphasised that the naming of joint winners was unavoidable, as not to do so would have been a grave injustice to the other writer.

This year also marked an achievement for the Gratiaen Trust . 'Three-Wheeler Press', a project to publish the translations of both Sinhala and Tamil writing was launched, with Prof. Ashley Halpe, Dr. Ranjini Obeysekere and Dr. M.A.M. Nuhman as co-ordinating editors. The first volume is a collection of short stories by the "not so well known new writers of the era".

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