The H.A.I. Goonetileke Prize for Literary Translation is a bi-annual literary prize in Sri Lanka. It is awarded by the Gratiaen Trust, which also awards the Gratiaen Prize, for the translation of Sinhala or Tamil language creative writing into English. [1] It was established in 2003.
Michael Ondaatje, who initiated the Gratiaen Prize, had also wanted to promote Sri Lankan writing in the local languages to an international audience. He had also hoped it would foster cross-cultural understanding amongst the various ethnic groups within the country. [2]
The prize is named after his friend Henry Alfred Ian Goonetileke, the first chairperson of the Gratiaen Prize, former Director of the University of Peradeniya library, and bibliographer.
The award is open to Sri Lankan authors who are resident in the country. In 2019, the monetary award was Rs 200,000. [3]
Year | Translator | Original Work | Genre | Judges |
---|---|---|---|---|
2021 - 2022 | Manel Eriyagama [4] | Jewels: An English Translation of Selected Sinhala Short Stories by Contemporary Writers | Short stories | Dr. Prabha Manuratne (chair); Kaushalya Kumarasinghe; Dr. Ponni Arasu |
2019 - 2020 | Malinda Seneviratne [5] | The Indelible (Senkottan) by Mahinda Prasad Masimbula | Prose-Poetry | Rohana Seneviratne; Sivasegaram; Kaushalya Fernando |
2017 - 2018 | Vini Vitharana [6] | Kav Silumina by Parākramabāhu II, King of Ceylon | Poetry | Prof. Sumathy Sivamohan; Prof. Saumya Liyanage; Charulatha Thewarathanthri; Esther Surenthiraraj |
2015 - 2016 | Aditha Dissanayake [7] | Golden Casket (Ran Karanduwa) by Batuwangala Rahula Thero | Novel | Emeritus Prof. K.N.O. Dharmadasa (chair); Dr. Kumudu Kusum Kumara; Madhubashini Dissanayake–Ratnayake |
2013 - 2014 | Vijitha Fernando [8] | Time Rebounds (Kala Sarpa) by Keerthi Welisarage | Novel | Dr. Sunil Wijesiriwardena; Prof. Kusuma Karunaratne; Krishantha Fedricks |
2010 - 2011 | Malinda Seneviratne [9] | The Hunter In the Wilderness of Sansara (Sansaaraaranyaye Dadayakkaraya) by Simon Nayagaththegama | Novel | Ariyawansa Ranaweera (chair); Sandagomi Coperahewa; Shravika Damunupola Amarasekara [10] |
2007 - 2008 | Edmund Jayasuriya [11] | Sedona by Eva Ranaweera | ||
2006 | Kumari Goonesekere | The Hour When the Moon Weeps by Liyanage Amarakeerthi | Short Stories | |
2005 | Vijita Fernando [12] | The Chameleon (Nandithaya) by Sunethra Rajakarunanayake | Novel |
Deshabandu Kameradin Susanthika Jayasinghe is a Sri Lankan retired sprinter, who specialised in the 100 and 200 metres. She won the Olympic silver medal for the 200m event in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, the second Sri Lankan to win an Olympic medal after Duncan White and the first Asian woman to win an Olympic or World Championship medal in a sprint event. She is also the only Asian athlete to have claimed an Olympic medal in sprint events. She is also the first and only Sri Lankan to win a medal at the World Athletics Championships. Her silver medal achievement at the 2000 Sydney Olympics also stood as the only Olympic medal for a South Asian in athletics event for 21 years before Neeraj Chopra's gold medal achievement at the 2020 Summer Olympics. She is fondly nicknamed as the Asian Black Mare. She has represented Sri Lanka at the Olympics on three occasions in 1996, 2000 and 2008. She is considered one of the most decorated sprinters in Sri Lanka. However, she is also a deemed as a controversial figure in Sri Lanka.
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The Gratiaen Prize is an annual literary prize for the best work of literary writing in English by a resident of Sri Lanka. It was founded in 1992 by the Sri Lankan-born Canadian novelist Michael Ondaatje with the money he received as joint-winner of the Booker Prize for his novel The English Patient. The prize is named after Ondaatje's mother, Doris Gratiaen.
Henry Alfred Ian Goonetilleke was a director of the University of Peradeniya library, the first chairman of the Gratiaen Trust and an eminent scholar in Sri Lanka.
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