Five on the shortlist for Gratiaen Prize, …. May 5, 2026
The Gratiaen Trust, in partnership with John Keells Foundation and with the support of the British Council, announced the shortlist for the 33rd Gratiaen Prize on Monday evening. This year, a record number of entries highlighted the energy and creativity in Sri Lankan writing in English.
The five shortlisted works cover a wide range of genres, including historical fiction, contemporary satire, lyrical prose, and experimental poetry.
The shortlisted works for the 33rd Gratiaen Prize (in alphabetical order):
@#$%!Daham – Aneesha Ansar. Ansar, a former copywriter and a “loud and proud” writer from Wattala, brings a bold and honest voice to the story of survival. The judges praised the book for its playful style and clever way of exploring ethics and modern morality through humour that also offers a deeper social critique. It is a sharp and modern satire that follows the “(un)adventures” of Daham, a young man dealing with a difficult boss, social pressures, and a “harrowing passivity” that shapes his life.
Dear Father; The Refugee – Alan de Costa. de Costa, a retired surgeon and OAM recipient who lives between Colombo and Vakarai, brings together the stories of a 17th-century Portuguese painter and a modern refugee in Australia. It looks at how art, history, and the rise of capitalism connect with family ties and the pain of being uprooted. This ambitious historical novel shifts between the fall of the Portuguese Fort in Galle in 1640 and the 1971 Marxist revolution in Ceylon.
God, Bangles and a Constitution –Anuththara Ekeli. Ekeli, an Attorney-at-Law and academic, has created a set of poems that are intentionally raw and challenge easy answers. Drawing on her background in international relations and law, she examines what it means to live within power structures, offering a new perspective on the Sri Lankan experience through devotion, doubt, intimacy and expectation. A triptych of poems that explores the space between the sacred, the intimate, and the political.
In the Curve of the Smile – Uvini Atukorala. Atukorala, who sees language as “lyrical and pliable,” explores resilience and the strong connections between mothers, daughters, and sisters. The judges praised the writing for its vivid style, moving between the country’s turmoil and the quiet gaps within a family, showing that sometimes memory is all we have left. Set during the violent changes of the late 1980s, this novel focuses on a young girl raised by her grandmother.
The Son and the Lover – Visakesa Chandrasekaram. Chandrasekaram, who has won the Gratiaen Prize in 1999, is also a lawyer and award-winning filmmaker, looks at how desire, tradition, and social expectations come together. The novel follows the couple from anti-Muslim protests in Sri Lanka to a new life in Australia, where their love faces doubts from family. This bold story explores an unexpected relationship between a “racist” Buddhist monk and a “cultured” Australian physiotherapist.
This year’s judging panel is led by V. V. Ganeshananthan, whose novel Brotherless Night recently won the 2024 Women’s Prize for Fiction and the Carol Shields Prize. She is joined by Dinidu Karunanayake, Assistant Professor of English at Elon University, who specialises in postcolonial literature, and Azara Jaleel, Editor-in-Chief of ARTRA Magazine.
Reflecting on the selection, V. V. Ganeshananthan commented: “It’s been an honour to engage with such ambitious and powerful literature. The shortlisted works demonstrate a mastery of craft and a diversity of voice that is truly exhilarating. These writers are exploring themes that are both deeply personal and globally relevant, proving that Sri Lankan writing in English continues to grow in strength and scope.”
The winner of the 33rd Gratiaen Prize will be announced on June 6, 2026.
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