Thiyagaraja Arasanayagam awarded Gratiaen Prize 2015
Poetry took centre stage last evening as Thiyagaraja Arasanayagam was awarded the Gratiaen Prize 2015 for his unpublished manuscript ‘ White Lanterns – Wesak 2011’. The annual prize recognises the best work of creative writing in English by a Sri Lankan resident and comes with Rs. 200,000 in award money.
This year’s judging panel for the 23rd edition of the Gratiaen Prize included Captain Elmo Jayawardena, Tracy Holsinger and Dr Dinali Devendra. The five writers shortlisted this year were vetted from over 50 entries.
Among the shortlisted works this year were Ashok Ferrey for his novel ‘Ceaseless Chatter of Demons’, Shehan Karunatilaka for his novel ‘Devil Dance’, Chammi Rajapathirana for ‘Traveller’s Tales’ – the author’s memoir about autism, Grace Wickremasinghe’s collection of poetry ‘Closure’ as well as Thiyagaraja Arasanayagam, himself.
The Gratiaen Prize was founded by Michael Ondaatje in 1992 with the money he received as joint-winner of the Booker Prize for his novel The English Patient, and is named after his mother, Doris Gratiaen.
The judges explained that given the multiplicity of genres, they approached the entries from the perspective of interested readers, letting the literary criteria evolve and commented on the range and ambition of this year’s entries.
Thiyagaraja Arasanayagam, an English literature teacher residing in Kandy and husband of poet Jean Arsanayagam, was lauded for the simplicity and skill evident in his collection of poetry which read like a “requiem for an island”. “Steeped in nostalgia and heartbreak, this twilight elegy engulfs and sweeps one along in its rolling tide of emotion and cadence,” noted the judges at the shortlisting ceremony for the Gratiaen Prize, held last month.