Punyakante Wijenaike (born Colombo, 1933- 8 March 2023) was a Sri Lankan writer. [1] She has been described as "one of the most underestimated fiction writers currently at work in the English language." [2] [3]
Wijenaike writes primarily in English, including fiction, short stories and anthologies. Her first collection of short stories, The Third Woman, was published in 1963. Since then she has published four collections of short stories and six novels, with more than 100 stories published in newspapers, journals and anthologies in Sri Lanka and abroad, and has had her works broadcast in Sri Lanka and on the BBC.
Although she has spent most of her life in Colombo, she initially used rural villages as her theme, only later turning to urban themes. Her writings highlight "the tyranny of community or a group towards its weaker members." Her 1998 novel, An Enemy within, uncovers "the mask that tend to hide the reality of present times." [4]
Her novel Giraya was adapted into a teledrama by Independent Television Network of Sri Lanka.
Ten of her works are held by the U.S. Library of Congress.
She is the daughter of Justin Kotelawala, a businessman and senator of Colombo and his wife Millicent da Silva. Her brother is Deshamanya Lalith Kotelawala. She spent most of her life in Colombo, where she published all her works. [6]
Philip Michael Ondaatje is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian poet, fiction writer, essayist, novelist, editor, and filmmaker.
Shyam Selvadurai is a Sri Lankan Canadian novelist. He is most noted for his 1994 novel Funny Boy, which won the Books in Canada First Novel Award and the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction.
Vijita Fernando is a Sri Lankan journalist, translator and fiction writer. She was a winner of the Gratiaen Prize and has received Sri Lanka’s State Literary Award.
Jean Arasanayagam was a Sri Lankan poet and fiction writer. She wrote her books in English, and they have been translated into German, French, Danish, Swedish and Japanese.
Rajiva Wijesinha, MA, DPhil is a Sri Lankan writer in English, distinguished for his political analysis as well as creative and critical work. An academic by profession for much of his working career, he was most recently Senior Professor of Languages at the University of Sabaragamuwa, Sri Lanka.
Deshanabu Tissa Ananda Abeysekara was a Sri Lankan filmmaker, actor, writer, director, screen playwright and political activist. He is better known as a script writer for the cinema as well as a film director. In 1996, his book Bringing Tony Home won the prestigious Gratiaen Prize for the new creative writing in English. He was the chief coordinator of FOSWAL in Sri Lanka and honoured awardee of SAARC Literary Award.
Justin Kotelawala, CBE, JP was a Sri Lankan businessman and Senator. He was the former Chairman of the Ceylinco Group.
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.
Shehan Karunatilaka is a Sri Lankan writer. He grew up in Colombo, studied in New Zealand and has lived and worked in London, Amsterdam and Singapore. His 2010 debut novel Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew won the Commonwealth Book Prize, the DSC Prize, the Gratiaen Prize and was adjudged the second greatest cricket book of all time by Wisden. His third novel The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida was announced as the winner of the 2022 Booker Prize on 17 October 2022.
Kala Keerthi Sybil Wettasinghe was a children's book writer and an illustrator in Sri Lanka. Considered as the doyen of children's literature in Sri Lanka, Wettasinghe has produced more than 200 children's books which have been translated into several languages. Two of her best known works are "Child In Me" and "Eternally Yours".
Lucky de Chickera is a Sri Lankan novelist and corporate executive. His novel Sarasu…amidst slums of terror was shortlisted for the Gratiaen Prize in 2011. and was nominated for the best novel in English at the state literary awards 2011.
Madhubhashini Disanayaka Ratnayaka is a Sri Lankan academic and author. Her novel There is Something I Have to Tell You won the Gratiaen Prize in 2011. She is the Head of English Language at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura.
The Road From Elephant Pass is a novel by Nihal De Silva. It won the 2003 Gratiaen Prize for creative writing in English. The novel was also nominated as a selection for the Sri Lankan Advanced Level Literature examinations. It has been given the themes of war and survival. The book is a great resource for the learning of survival techniques and for handling situations in a complicated relationship. The characters Wasantha and Kamala fall in love even though they belong to completely different races and liberation organisations. The novel was subsequently made into a film with the same name.
Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew is a 2010 novel by Shehan Karunatilaka. Using cricket as a device to write about Sri Lankan society, the book tells the story of an alcoholic journalist's quest to track down a missing cricketer of the 1980s. The novel was critically hailed on publication, winning awards and much positive review coverage.
Yasmine Gooneratne is a Sri Lankan poet, short story writer, university professor and essayist. She is recognised in Sri Lanka, Australia and throughout Europe and the U.S.A., due to her substantial creative and critical publications in the field of English and post-colonial literature. Currently, she resides in Sri Lanka.
Srimani Anoma Athulathmudali MP was a Sri Lankan politician and a former government minister who held the position of minister of Environment, Transport and Women's Affairs under the Wijetunga cabinet appointed by the former Sri Lankan president, D.B. Wijetunga. She died of cancer in 2004.
Anoma Wijewardene is a Sri Lankan contemporary artist. Wijewardene's paintings and installations reflect themes of sustainability, diversity and peace. She has held exhibitions around the world, including Venice, London, Sydney, Dubai, New Delhi, Hong Kong, Maldives and Colombo.
Rajapakse Konara Mudiyanselage Bilesha Yudhanjaya Bandara Wijeratne is a Sri Lankan science fiction author, activist and researcher, classified as part of a new wave of South Asian science fiction writers. His work has appeared in Wired, Foreign Policy and Slate. His novel The Salvage Crew has been lauded as one of the best science fiction and fantasy books of 2020.
Lakshmi de Silva is a translator, writer and critic from Sri Lanka. In 2000, her work was shortlisted for the Gratiaen Prize. She has also received the Sahithyarathna Award for lifetime achievement.
Eva Ranaweera was feminist writer, poet and journalist who wrote in both English and Sinhala. She was the first editor of the magazine Vanitha Viththi.