Reef (novel)

Last updated
Reef
Reef - Romesh Gunesekera.jpg
20th anniversary edition cover
Author Romesh Gunesekera
LanguageEnglish
Genre Literary fiction
Historical fiction
Asian literature
Publisher Granta Books (UK)
Publication date
June 30, 1994 (UK); April 1, 1995 (US)
Publication place Sri Lanka, UK
Media typePrint (hardback) and (paperback)
Pages192pp (UK paperback edition); 180pp (2011 UK edition)
ISBN 978-1-8620-7094-3

Reef is a historical fiction novel written by Sri Lankan-born British author Romesh Gunesekera, first published by Granta Books in 1994. [1] Written in English and set in Sri Lanka, it tells the story of a talented young chef named Triton who is so committed to pleasing his master, Mr. Salgado, a marine biologist obsessed with swamps and seafood, that he is oblivious to the political unrest threatening his country. It is Gunesekera's debut novel and second book, following his 1992 collection of short stories, Monkfish Moon.

Contents

It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1994, but lost to How Late It Was, How Late by James Kelman amid much controversy; [2] and the Guardian Fiction Prize the same year.

Plot

Triton is a young chef who was forced to leave his father's house to work for Mr. Ranjan Salgado, a marine biologist obsessed by swamps, sea movements, and a Sri Lankan island's disappearing reef. Almost immediately, thanks to his master's obsessions, Triton works hard to please him with his carefully prepared delicacies. But neither of them know that the political unrest threatening Sri Lanka will have a devastating influence on them, most significantly on Triton. A kind of radical uprise of violent Marxist furor is introduced through the character of Wijetunga. [1]

Awards and nominations

Awards

Nominations

Related Research Articles

Gregory Hollingshead, CM is a Canadian novelist. He was formerly a professor of English at the University of Alberta, and he lives in Toronto, Ontario.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kamila Shamsie</span> Pakistani and British writer and novelist (born 1973)

Kamila Shamsie FRSL is a Pakistani and British writer and novelist who is best known for her award-winning novel Home Fire (2017). Named on Granta magazine's list of 20 best young British writers, Shamsie has been described by The New Indian Express as "a novelist to reckon with and to look forward to." She also writes for publications including The Guardian, New Statesman, Index on Censorship and Prospect, and broadcasts on radio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Winton</span> Australian writer

Timothy John Winton is an Australian writer. He has written novels, children's books, non-fiction books, and short stories. In 1997, he was named a Living Treasure by the National Trust of Australia, and has won the Miles Franklin Award four times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Malouf</span> Australian poet, novelist, short story writer, playwright and librettist

David George Joseph Malouf is an Australian poet, novelist, short story writer, playwright and librettist. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2008, Malouf has lectured at both the University of Queensland and the University of Sydney. He also delivered the 1998 Boyer Lectures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Booker Prize</span> International literary award

The International Booker Prize is an international literary award hosted in the United Kingdom. The introduction of the International Prize to complement the Man Booker Prize, as the Booker Prize was then known, was announced in June 2004. Sponsored by the Man Group, from 2005 until 2015 the award was given every two years to a living author of any nationality for a body of work published in English or generally available in English translation. It rewarded one author's "continued creativity, development and overall contribution to fiction on the world stage", and was a recognition of the writer's body of work rather than any one title.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Romesh Gunesekera</span> Sri Lankan-born British author

Romesh Gunesekera FRSL is a Sri Lankan-born British author, who was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for his novel Reef in 1994. He has judged a number of literary prizes and was Chair of the judges of Commonwealth Short Story Prize competition for 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nadeem Aslam</span> British Pakistani novelist

Nadeem Aslam FRSL is a British Pakistani novelist. His debut novel, Season of the Rainbirds, won the Betty Trask and the Author's Club First Novel Award. His critically acclaimed second novel Maps for Lost Lovers won Encore Award and Kiriyama Prize; it was shortlisted for International Dublin Literary Award, among others. Colm Tóibín described him as "one of the most exciting and serious British novelists writing now".

Gail Jones is an Australian novelist and academic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michelle de Kretser</span> Australian novelist (born 1957)

Michelle de Kretser is an Australian novelist who was born in Sri Lanka, and moved to Australia in 1972 when she was 14.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrés Neuman</span> Argentine writer (born 1977)

Andrés Neuman is an Argentine writer, poet, translator, columnist and blogger.

Oneworld Publications is a British independent publishing firm founded in 1986 by Novin Doostdar and Juliet Mabey originally to publish accessible non-fiction by experts and academics for the general market. Based in London, it later added a literary fiction list and both a children's list and an upmarket crime list, and now publishes across a wide range of subjects, including history, politics, current affairs, popular science, religion, philosophy, and psychology, as well as literary fiction, crime fiction and suspense, and children's titles.

Ross Raisin FRSL is a British novelist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eleanor Catton</span> New Zealand novelist and screenwriter

Eleanor Catton is a New Zealand novelist and screenwriter. Born in Canada, Catton moved to New Zealand as a child and grew up in Christchurch. She completed a master's degree in creative writing at the International Institute of Modern Letters. Her award-winning debut novel, The Rehearsal, written as her Master's thesis, was published in 2008, and has been adapted into a 2016 film of the same name. Her second novel, The Luminaries, won the 2013 Booker Prize, making Catton the youngest author ever to win the prize and only the second New Zealander. It was subsequently adapted into a television miniseries, with Catton as screenwriter. In 2023, she was named on the Granta Best of Young British Novelists list.

Maria Joan Hyland is an ex-lawyer and the author of three novels: How the Light Gets In (2004), Carry Me Down (2006) and This is How (2009). Hyland is a lecturer in creative writing in the Centre for New Writing at the University of Manchester. Carry Me Down (2006) was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and won the Hawthornden Prize and the Encore Prize.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SI Leeds Literary Prize</span> British literary award

The SI Leeds Literary Prize is a biennial award founded in 2012 by Soroptimist International of Leeds – a branch of the worldwide women's organization Soroptimist International – for unpublished fiction written by Black and Asian women resident in the UK. Submissions must be of more than 30,000 words of fiction and entrants must be aged 18 years and over. The prize offers support for writers to develop their work and to help build new audiences.

<i>Questions of Travel</i> Book by Michelle de Kretser

Questions of Travel is a 2012 novel by Australian author Michelle de Kretser. It won the 2013 Miles Franklin Award and the 2013 Prime Minister's Literary Award for Fiction.

Yasmine Gooneratne was a Sri Lankan poet, short story writer, university professor and essayist. She was recognised in Sri Lanka, Australia, throughout Europe, and the United States, due to her substantial creative and critical publications in the field of English and post-colonial literature. After 35 years in Australia, she returned to live in Sri Lanka.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anuk Arudpragasam</span> Sri Lankan Tamil novelist (born 1988)

Anuk Arudpragasam is a Sri Lankan Tamil novelist writing in English and Tamil. His debut novel The Story of a Brief Marriage was published in 2016 by Flatiron Books/Granta Books and was subsequently translated into French, German, Czech, Mandarin, Dutch and Italian. The novel, which takes place in 2009 during the final stages of the Sri Lankan Civil War, won the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, and was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and the German Internationaler Literaturpreis. His second novel, A Passage North, was published in 2021 and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.

Romesh may refer to:

Minoli Salgado is a Sri Lankan writer and academic based in the United Kingdom who was born in Malaysia and educated mainly in England. She has written extensively on migrant studies and diasporic literature and is the author of the critically acclaimed work Writing Sri Lanka. She also writes fiction and poetry, and her debut novel A Little Dust on the Eyes won the inaugural SI Leeds Literary Prize.

References

  1. 1 2 "Reef by Romesh Gunesekara", Granta , 3 July 2014, retrieved 1 June 2016
  2. "Reef", Booker Prize , retrieved 1 June 2016
  3. "Book awards: Yorkshire Post Book Award", LibraryThing , retrieved 1 June 2016
  4. "International Dublin Literary Award - 1996 Longlist", dublinliteraryaward.ie, retrieved 1 June 2016