Gratiaen shortlist announced
On April 4, at an event hosted by the British Council, the judges
announced the much anticipated shortlist of five authors, selected from
approximately fifty submissions.
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Press briefing |
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Standard Chartered Chief Executive Anirvan Ghosh-Dastidar
addressing the gathering |
The shortlisted writers for 2010 in
alphabetical order:
* Rozaine Cooray
* Shyam Dissanayake
* Herman Gunaratne
* Shirani Rajapakse
* Sakunthala Sachithanandan
Excerpts from the shortlisted works were read giving the gathered
crowd a taste of the talent of the authors and their claim to a place on
the coveted Gratiaen shortlist for 2010. The award event, which will be
held on May 21, will disclose the winner of the Gratiaen Prize for 2010.
Now in its 18th year, the Gratiaen Prize rewards the best writing in
English by a resident Sri Lankan. The judges for the 2010 award, veteran
journalist and social activist Feizal Samath, Sunethra Bandaranaike
trust Chairperson Sunethra Bandaranaike and academic Dinithi
Karunanayake have made their choice from entries submitted by authors
and publishers, which included fiction, poetry, drama and literary
memoir, either published during the last year or presented in manuscript
form. The value of the prize is Sri Lankan Rs 200,000.
Standard Chartered Chief Executive Anirvan Ghosh-Dastidar, on the
Bank’s support of the awards, said: “The Bank is proud of its
affiliation with the Gratiaen award and the Trust’s efforts to engender
literary excellence. The campaign launched by the Bank for the 2010
award ‘English in text, Sri Lankan in essence’ truly reflects the
aspiration for recognition and distinction of local writers.”
Standard Chartered Bank has been affiliated with the Gratiaen Prize
since its inception in 1993. |
