The Gratiaen Prize has an unbroken history of rewarding literary excellence in Sri Lanka for nearly two and a half decades and the main award is sponsored by Sarasavi Bookshop Ltd. This year the Gratiaen Prize for the best work of creative writing in English was awarded to Charulatha Abeysekara Thewarathanthri for her unpublished novel ‘Stories’ on 27 May at BMICH, Colombo.

Speaking at the event, Sarasavi Chairman H.D. Premasiri said that Sarasavi was honoured to be associated with prize as a socially conscious book publisher committed to uplifting the publishing industry in Sri Lanka. The current value of the prize is Rs. 200,000.

The prize was founded by Michael Ondaatje who was the joint winner of the Booker Prize for his novel “The English Patient” in 1993. Guided by Ondaatje’s vision of promoting Sri Lankan writing in English through a prize devoted to resident Sri Lankan writers, the Gratiaen Prize has supported, encouraged and rewarded Sri Lankan literary creativity with a number of Gratiaen winners gaining regional and international critical acclaim and popular success.
Courtesy of www.ft.lk