Malinda Wins 2013 Gratiaen Prize

May 24, 2014 |

Editor in Chief of ‘The Nation’ Newspaper Malinda Seneviratne has won the Gratiaen Prize – 2013 for creative writing in English for his collection of poetry ‘Edges’.

This year the shortlist was made up exclusively of poetry and the shortlisted works for the Gratiaen Prize 2013 are:

1. This Nothingness, a collection of poetry, in manuscript form, by Inosha Ijaz
2. A Patchwork Soul, also poetry, in manuscript form, by Chamali Kariyawasam
3. Edges, ar collection of poems, published by Fast Publishers, by Malinda Seneviratne

The judging panel for the Gratiaen Prize 2013 are:

Tissa Devendra (Chair) originally a student of literature, has had a distinguished career in the Public Service, working around Sri Lanka.  After retirement he has served as Chairman of the Public Service Commission and the Salaries Commission.  He is the author of Tales from the Provinces, On Horseshoe Street, Memoirs of a Pen Pusher and Quest for Shangri La.

Dr Shavrika Damunupola Amarasekera is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of English at the University of Colombo. Her primary research interests are in childhood studies, postcolonial literatures and Sri Lankan writing in English and she has published work on childhood, ethnicity and Sri Lankan fiction in English.  She has a keen interest in Sinhala literature in translation and was a judge of the HAI Goonetilleke prize in 2012.

Vijay Kumar Nagaraj is a researcher, writer and teacher.  He has taught at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Bombay, India and most recently at a secondary school in Colombo.  He has worked on issues of rural community empowerment in Rajasthan and for a think-tank in global public policy research.

Sanjaya – Rare Creativity And Untamed 

Personality

Sanjaya Senanayake

By Ranga Kalansooriya -May 24, 2014

Dr. Ranga Kalansooriya

That was somewhere in 2006, I wanted to check the ongoing studio development work at the College [Sri Lanka College of Journalism] as part of my morning routine work. Probably it would have been around 8.30 in the morning and hardly any staff member is in the office by this time. I knew the guys were working till late night to finish the studio on time for the new students to use it in a few weeks.

I tried to open the door of the studio but something was blocking it from inside. I pushed it hard. Oh God..! It was Sanjaya who was sleeping on the floor blocking studio door. Poor fellow has worked overnight probably with Prasad (Senaratne) and just catching up a last minute sleep. This was not once, it was Sanjaya’s practice almost every day to work day and night for at least a month to complete the radio and television studios for the college – for the future journalists in Sri Lanka. He would work without food, without sleep – but he would not miss his plain tea and the smoke – that took his life in the midst of his journey.                                                                                     Read More