Sri Lankan-born British author
Romesh Gunesekera FRSL (born 1954) is a Sri Lankan -born British author,[1] who was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for his novel Reef in 1994.[2] He has judged a number of literary prizes and was Chair of the judges of Commonwealth Short Story Prize competition for 2015.[3]
Life and work
Born in Colombo to a Sinhalese Christian family in 1954, Romesh Gunesekera grew up in Sri Lanka and the Philippines , where his father was a founder of the Asian Development Bank , and moved to England in 1971 and currently lives in London . His first book, Monkfish Moon , a collection of short stories reflecting the ethnic and political tensions that have threatened Sri Lanka since independence in 1948, was published in 1992, and was shortlisted for several prizes.[4] His 1994 novel Reef was shortlisted for the Booker Prize .
Gunesekera travels widely for festivals, workshops and British Council tours. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Asia House Festival of Asian Literature .[5]
He is currently one of the writers-in-residence for the charity First Story .[6] He also has a short story related to the theme of animal poaching.
He was a judge for a number of literary prizes, such as the Caine Prize for African Writing ,[7] the David Cohen Prize for Literature , the Forward Prize for Poetry [8] and most recently the Granta 2013 list of the Best of Young British Novelists.[9]
He chaired the board of judges of the 2015 Commonwealth Short Story Prize competition.
He has been a Guest Director at the Cheltenham Festival , an Associate Tutor at Goldsmiths College and on the Board of the Arvon Foundation . For four years, until 2013, he was on the Council of the Royal Society of Literature .
He is married with two daughters.[10]
Bibliography
Books
Gunesekera, Romesh (1992). Monkfish Moon . ISBN 9781565840775 .
Reef – 1994
The Sandglass – 1998
Heaven's Edge – 2002
The Match – 2006
The Prisoner of Paradise – 2012
Noon Tide Toll – 2013
Suncatcher – 2019
Short fiction
Title
Year
First published
Reprinted/collected
Notes
Road kill
2013
Gunesekera, Romesh (2 December 2013). "Road kill". The New Yorker . Vol. 89, no. 39. pp. 62–65.
Awards
Asian Achievers Award for services to media, arts and culture 2015
Sri Lanka Ranjana 2005
BBC Asia Award 1998 for Achievement in Writing & Literature
Winner Premio Mondello Five Continents Asia Prize 1997 (Reef)
Winner of Yorkshire Post First Work Prize 1995 (for Reef )
Finalist Booker Prize 1994 (Reef)
Finalist Guardian Fiction Prize 1994 (for Reef )
Finalist Commonwealth Writers' Regional Prize 1993 (for Monkfish Moon )
Finalist David Higham Prize 1992 (for Monkfish Moon )
Arts Council Writers' Bursary 1991
First prize in the Peterloo Open Poetry Competition in 1988
The Rathborne Prize in Philosophy 1976
Liverpool College Poetry Prize 1972
References
^ "About Romesh Gunasekera" . Retrieved 19 November 2020 .
^ "Romesh Gunesekera" , The Man Booker Prize
^ "The 2015 Commonwealth Short Story Prize" . Commonwealth Writers . 31 August 2015. Retrieved 19 November 2020 .
^ Biography at Romesh Gunesekera website.
^ "Grammar, Style, and Usage" . Writing Explained . Retrieved 19 November 2020 .
^ "Writers Archives" . Retrieved 19 November 2020 .
^ "Judges 2005" , The Caine Prize.
^ "Forward Judges" , Forward Arts Foundation.
^ "Granta and British Council Announce ‘Best of Young British Novelists’ Partnership" , Granta .
^ Bunbury, Stephanie (2 September 2006). "Finding meaning in a long gone past", The Age , Insight, p. 10.
External links
Special Jury Prize: Denise McSmith (1975) •
Stefano D'Arrigo (1977) •
Jurij Trifonov (1978) •
Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz (1979) •
Pietro Consagra (1980) •
Ignazio Buttitta ,
Angelo Maria e Ela Ripellino (1983) •
Leonardo Sciascia (1985) •
Wang Meng (1987) •
Mikhail Gorbaciov (1988) •
Peter Carey ,
José Donoso ,
Northrop Frye ,
Jorge Semprún ,
Wole Soyinka ,
Lu Tongliu (1990) •
Fernanda Pivano (1992) •
Associazione Scrittori Cinesi (1993) •
Dong Baoucum ,
Fan Boaci ,
Wang Huanbao ,
Shi Peide ,
Chen Yuanbin (1995) •
Xu Huainzhong ,
Xiao Xue ,
Yu Yougqnan ,
Qin Weinjung (1996) •
Khushwant Singh (1997) •
Javier Marías (1998) •
Francesco Burdin (2001) •
Luciano Erba (2002) •
Isabella Quarantotti De Filippo (2003) •
Marina Rullo (2006) •
Andrea Ceccherini (2007) •
Enrique Vila-Matas (2009) •
Francesco Forgione (2010)
First work: Valerio Magrelli (1980) •
Ferruccio Benzoni , Stefano Simoncelli,
Walter Valeri ,
Laura Mancinelli (1981) •
Jolanda Insana (1982) •
Daniele Del Giudice (1983) •
Aldo Busi (1984) •
Elisabetta Rasy ,
Dario Villa (1985) •
Marco Lodoli ,
Angelo Mainardi (1986) •
Marco Ceriani ,
Giovanni Giudice (1987) •
Edoardo Albinati ,
Silvana La Spina (1988) •
Andrea Canobbio ,
Romana Petri (1990) •
Anna Cascella (1991) •
Marco Caporali ,
Nelida Milani (1992) •
Silvana Grasso ,
Giulio Mozzi (1993) •
Ernesto Franco (1994) •
Roberto Deidier (1995) •
Giuseppe Quatriglio ,
Tiziano Scarpa (1996) •
Fabrizio Rondolino (1997) •
Alba Donati (1998) •
Paolo Febbraro (1999) •
Evelina Santangelo (2000) •
Giuseppe Lupo (2001) •
Giovanni Bergamini ,
Simona Corso (2003) •
Adriano Lo Monaco (2004) •
Piercarlo Rizzi (2005) •
Francesco Fontana (2006) •
Paolo Fallai (2007) •
Luca Giachi (2008) •
Carlo Carabba (2009) •
Gabriele Pedullà (2010)
Italian Author: Alberto Moravia (1982) •
Vittorio Sereni alla memoria (1983) •
Italo Calvino (1984) •
Mario Luzi (1985) •
Paolo Volponi (1986) •
Luigi Malerba (1987) •
Oreste del Buono (1988) •
Giovanni Macchia (1989) •
Gianni Celati ,
Emilio Villa (1990) •
Andrea Zanzotto (1991) •
Ottiero Ottieri (1992) •
Attilio Bertolucci (1993) •
Luigi Meneghello (1994) •
Fernando Bandini ,
Michele Perriera (1995) •
Nico Orengo (1996) •
Giuseppe Bonaviri ,
Giovanni Raboni (1997) •
Carlo Ginzburg (1998) •
Alessandro Parronchi (1999) •
Elio Bartolini (2000) •
Roberto Alajmo (2001) •
Andrea Camilleri (2002) •
Andrea Carraro , Antonio Franchini,
Giorgio Pressburger (2003) •
Maurizio Bettini ,
Giorgio Montefoschi ,
Nelo Risi (2004) •
pr. Raffaele Nigro ,
sec. Maurizio Cucchi ,
ter. Giuseppe Conte (2005) •
pr. Paolo Di Stefano ,
sec. Giulio Angioni (2006) •
pr. Mario Fortunato ,
sec. Toni Maraini ,
ter. Andrea Di Consoli (2007) •
pr. Andrea Bajani ,
sec. Antonio Scurati ,
ter. Flavio Soriga (2008) •
pr. Mario Desiati ,
sec. Osvaldo Guerrieri ,
ter. Gregorio Scalise (2009) •
pr. Lorenzo Pavolini ,
sec. Roberto Cazzola ,
ter. (2010) •
pr. Eugenio Baroncelli ,
sec. Milo De Angelis ,
ter. Igiaba Scego (2011) •
pr. Edoardo Albinati ,
sec. Paolo Di Paolo ,
ter. Davide Orecchio (2012) •
pr. Andrea Canobbio ,
sec. Valerio Magrelli ,
ter. Walter Siti (2013) •
pr. Irene Chias ,
sec. Giorgio Falco ,
ter. Francesco Pecoraro (2014) •
pr. Nicola Lagioia ,
sec. Letizia Muratori ,
ter. Marco Missiroli (2015) •
pr. Marcello Fois ,
sec. Emanuele Tonon ,
ter. Romana Petri (2016) •
pr. Stefano Massini ,
sec. Alessandro Zaccuri ,
ter. Alessandra Sarchi (2017)
Mondello for Multiculturality Award: Kim Thúy (2011)
"Targa Archimede", Premio all'Intelligenza d'Impresa: Enzo Sellerio (2011)
Special Award 40 Years of Mondello: Gipi (2014)
International National Academics Other