Shortlist for The Gratiaen Prize 2021
SHORTLIST FOR THE 2021 GRATIAEN PRIZE
The Gratiaen Trust, in association with John Keells Foundation and event partner The British Council, Colombo, announced the submissions that made the shortlist for the Gratiaen Prize 2021 at an online event that was held on Monday, 23rd May 2022.
The following works have been shortlisted for the prize;
A Place called Home by Uvini Atukorala
The Unmarriageable Man by Ashok Ferrey
The Lanka Box by Ciara Mandulee Mendis
Talking to the Sky by Rizvina Morseth de Alwis
Read More Below
A Place Called Home – Uvini Atukorala [unpublished manuscript]
These stories are quintessentially Sri Lankan, explore Sri Lankan identity, and what it means to belong. They feature Sri Lankans of diverse ages, occupations, ethnicities and religions living within the country and at times outside of it, and examine what it takes to call a place home.
The Unmarriageable Man – Ashok Ferrey [published novel]
A woman in full-length mink sweeps up to Sanjay de Silva and scribbles her number on a piece of paper. 'Call me,' she says. She doesn't bother to ask his name. This is a novel about young Sri Lankans in London - but at its heart is the subject of grief: how each of us copes in our own inimitable way; how in the end you find that grief is only the transmutation of love, of the very same chemical composition - liquid, undistilled - the one inevitably turning to the other like ice to water.
The Lanka Box – Ciara Mandulee Mendis [Unpublished manuscript]
The Lanka Box is a collection of short stories about the power of human connections and collisions – collisions that burst into burning fragments of pain and explode into a million beautiful hues. Here are the voices of the people you have already met and smiled with, but whose stories you thought you would never hear - the friend of the activist, the hapless charlatan on an estate, and the smiling monk in the train. This is the story of mediating life in a postcolonial, postwar Sri Lanka.
Talking to the Sky - Rizvina Morseth de Alwis [unpublished manuscript]
Set in contemporary Sri Lanka, Talking to the Sky tells the story of a Muslim family caught between modernity and rising conservatism against the backdrop of growing anti-Muslim sentiment and the fragmentation of a community leaning heavily towards Wahhabism. As the country reels from the shock of the Easter attack, Aisha learns that her son Aqib is missing, setting in motion a firestorm of gossip and speculation. As the once estranged family comes together to look for him, Aisha and her daughter Emaan also undertake a journey examining their faith, family, and love.