Trustees

Michael Ondaatje

Founder

Michael Ondaatje, Founder of the Gratiaen Trust, is the award-winning author of The English Patient, joint winner of the Booker Prize in 1992, and winner of the Golden Man Booker Prize in 2019. He is the author of over thirty works comprising fiction, memoir, poetry and essays, and is the recipient of fifteen prestigious literary award to date.

Nafeesa K. Amiruddeen

Co-chairperson

Nafeesa K Amiruddeen is co-founder and Drama Director of The Performing Arts Company, and the Secretary to the Gratiaen Trust.  With qualifications from Trinity College London and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, she teaches Speech and Communication skills, and fosters theatre in schools through productions and festivals.

Nisreen Jafferjee

Co-chairperson

Nisreen Jafferjee, comes with a rich background in marketing, advertising and public relations in India and Sri Lanka. As Manager of the Galle Literary Festival between 2007 to 2010 she oversaw the publicity and marketing for the annual event, an experience that added to her passion for arts programming. She brings a unique combination of skills and creativity to the Gratiaen Trust as it charts its way through its next phase of growth

Prof. Neloufer de Mel

Prof. Neloufer de Mel is Senior Professor of English (Chair) at the Dept. of English, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, and Chairperson of the Gratiaen Trust.  The author of many scholarly publications on cultural and literature studies, she has been on the jury of the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Euro-Asia region), the DSC Prize for South Asian literature, and the Gratiaen Prize.

Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu

Dr Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu is the founding Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Alternatives, an independent research and advocacy public policy think tank in Sri Lanka.  A leading advocate of human rights and good governance, he won the inaugural Citizens Peace Award in 2010 and was shortlisted for the City of Ypres Peace Prize in 2016. He also functioned as the Secretary to the Consultative Task Force on Reconciliation Mechanisms in Sri Lanka.

Prof. Harshana Rambukwella

Prof. Harshana Rambukwella is Director, Postgraduate Institute of English, Open University of Sri Lanka. He was a research fellow at the Institute for Advanced Social Studies and Humanities (IASH) at the University of Edinburgh, and the Sri Lanka Chair at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. He has served on the juries of the Swarnapusthaka Awards for the SInhala novel, the Fairway National LIterary Award and the State Literary Award.

Manjula Sirimanne

Manjula Sirimanne is a partner at the D.L. and F. de Saram law firm – lawyers to the Trust. Called to the Bar in 1993, she graduated with a LL.B (Hons) degree from the University of Colombo in 1995, and specializes in corporate, commercial, employment and intellectual property law.

Ranmali Mirchandani

Ranmali Mirchandani is an arts practitioner with extensive stage experience.  She was Arts Manager at the British Council in Sri Lanka for 27 years and is currently the South Asia Representative for the Royal Academy of Dance. She graduated from the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, and holds a Japanese language degree from Reitaku University, Japan.

Dr. Mahendran Thiruvarangan

Mahendran Thiruvarangan is a Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Jaffna. He obtained his PhD from the City University of New York in 2019. His graduate research focused on representations of coexistence and resistance in contemporary South Asian writings and human rights narratives. He teaches courses in postcolonial literatures and early-modern writings. He also writes in the print and electronic media, in both Tamil and English, about contemporary socio-political issues.

Amrita Pieris

Amrita Pieris is an alumni of Cheltenham Ladies College, and a marketing professional. She was Festival Director of the Galle Literary Festival in 2012, 2016 and 2017, and is currently working with the Academy of Design on the Sri Lanka Design Festival 2020. 

Maduranga Kalugampitiya

Maduranga Kalugampitiya is a Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Peradeniya.  He is an alumnus of the University of Peradeniya and Ohio University, USA.  His areas of interest include the philosophy of language and language politics.