Yasmine’s ‘The Sweet and Simple Kind’ shortlisted for Commonwealth Prize

Sri Lankan writer Yasmine Gooneratne’s latest novel ‘The Sweet and Simple Kind’ released last November is among the books shortlisted for the 2007 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize Best Book Award, in the Europe and South Asia regions, it was announced on Thursday.

An international judging panel, made up of Professor Angela Smith (United Kingdom), Supriya Chaudhuri (India), and Aamer Hussein (United Kingdom) has chosen the following books from an impressive list of 116 entries.

In the running for the Best Book Award are:

Vikram Chandra’s ‘Sacred Games’, Patricia Duncker’s ‘Miss Webster and Chérif’, Yasmine Gooneratne’s ‘The Sweet and Simple Kind’, M.J. Hyland’s ‘Carry Me Down’, David Mitchell’s ‘Black Swan Green’, Naeem Murr’s ‘The Perfect Man’ and James Robertson’s ‘The Testament of Gideon Mack’.

Shortlisted for the Best First Book Award are:

Yasmin Crowther’s ‘The Saffron Kitchen’, Emma Darwin’s ‘The Mathematics of Love’, Reina James’ ‘This Time of Dying’, JM. Ledgard’s ‘Giraffe’, Gautam Malkani’s ‘Londonstani, Hisham Matar’s ‘In the Country of Men’ and James Scudamore’s ‘The Amnesia Clinic’.

The two regional winners will be announced on March 6, 2007 and will enter the final stage of the 21st Commonwealth Writers’ Prize where they will go head to head with the six other regional winners from Africa; The Caribbean and Canada; and South East Asia and the South Pacific.

The winners of the overall Best Book and Best First Book Prize will be announced during a final programme at the Calabash International Literary Festival in Jamaica on May 27, 2007 after being put through a gruelling judging process by a Pan Commonwealth panel. £10,000 will be awarded to the author of Overall Best Book, and £5,000 to the author of Best First Book.

The Prize is now in its 21st year. It is sponsored and organised by the Commonwealth Foundation with the support of the Macquarie Foundation.