Gratiaen shortlist: Two fresh voices amid familiar names making a comeback
This year’s Gratiaen shortlist, announced last Monday, marks the 32nd year of the prize and is accompanied by the H. A. I. Goonetilleke Prize for Literary Translation. Despite the event at the British Council being overshadowed by the news of the demise of Gratiaen trustee Prof. Harshana Rambukwella, the shortlist had its usual anticipatory buzz with two fresh voices amid familiar chroniclers and established writers making a comeback.
The Gratiaen is Sri Lanka’s most prestigious award for English creative writing and was established in 1992 by Michael Ondaatje with the Booker Prize money he won for his novel The English Patient. The Prize is named after his mother, Doris Gratiaen.
Judges and shortlisted authors: From left, Savithri Rodrigo, Crystal Baines, Vihanga Perera, Savin Edirisinghe and Ajith Perakum Jayasinghe
This year’s judges are Professor Gregory Pardlo, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, essayist and Professor of Literature and Creative Writing at NYU Abu Dhabi; Dr. Crystal Baines, researcher at the Social Scientists’ Association and visiting lecturer at the University of Colombo; and Savithri Rodrigo, award-winning journalist and biographer.
Among the shortlisted books is Upali Mahaliyana’s novel He was God’s Child Too. Upali writes poignantly touching on taboos – the story revolves around a girl who grows up with a sibling who lives on the autism spectrum in a family, culture, and society that is far from sympathetic.
The judges opined that, “situated in the 1970s and 80s, He was God’s Child Too, delves into the subject of mental health that has long been ignored and misunderstood in Sri Lanka. In this text, Upali Mahaliyana disrupts the linearity of a conventional novel, by depicting the physical abuse and psychological trauma of a gifted and vulnerable adolescent through excerpts from the protagonist’s diary.”
Savin Edirisinghe’s collection of short stories Kata Katha: Gossip, Rumours, and Idle Talk rests on the premise that “Kata Katha” or “gossip”, a form of oral knowledge system, “is the cornerstone of civilization”. “Framing each story as a piece of gossip, rumour, or idle talk, Savin Edirisinghe explores the very serious, curious and confounding challenges of today’s Sri Lankan youth who grapple with the inheritance of a failed and flawed social, political, and economic system” the judges noted.
Ajith Perakum Jayasinghe, an established writer, blogger and translator, makes his Gratiaen debut with the collection of short stories Nowhere No Return. It offers “poignant testimonies of human resilience in times of conflict”. “Whether it’s a young football player precariously perched on the wheel of a moving aircraft, putting his life on the line to escape violent political forces in search of elusive green pastures, or a young mother, now a climate refugee, wading through a stagnating urban swap that was once her sparse and happy home and livelihood, this collection dwells on ordinary people’s tragedies, dilemmas, and frustrations which otherwise appear as a fleeting newsflash.”
Vihanga Perera, is shortlisted for the sixth time (he was winner in 2014) for The Warm South, a novel that “documents the journeys, whims, and whimsies of a group of privileged urban youth through the cynical eyes of a narrator who is both within and without the seemingly stiff boundaries of class and region.”
The audience at the shortlist. Pix by M.A. Pushpa Kumara
“As the journeys and stories of these insular darlings of the metropolis unfold in popular coastal tourist destinations, so do the stories of the spectres from the late 1980s southern insurrection which continue to haunt the quiet towns of Sri Lanka. Narrated in a distinctive writerly voice, in The Warm South, Vihanga Perera offers a subtle critique of class and regional hierarchies which reveal that, as generations pass, certain social boundaries have always been porous while some others can never be breached,” the judges’ statement said
Ranudi Gunawardena’s Wombful of Weeds is “a collection of poetry that takes us through the many journeys and transformations of female experience from girlhood to womanhood, through lush and visceral metaphors. This poetry collection uses language spare and precise to capture the lyrical beauty of the natural world not as a romantic projection, but as the context for understanding the human animal within it.”
The announcement and awards ceremony for both the Gratiaen Prize and the H.A.I. Goonetileke Prize for Literary Translation will take place on May 31 at The Studio, Cinnamon Life at City of Dreams Sri Lanka.
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