Echoes of Ondaatje’s words ring out
The Gratiaen winners 2023: Yudhanjaya Wijeratne and Chiranthi Rajapakse with the panel of judges
When the Gratiaen Prize turned 30, it was time to celebrate and the Gratiaen Trust had pulled out all the stops for the awards ceremony on Saturday, June 17 at Westminster House – the British High Commissioner’s residence. Against the beautiful gardens where in the dusk, grand trees loomed and fireflies flickered, the gathering warmed to a literary cocktail which included an insightful chat between authors Romesh Gunesekera and Shehan Karunatilaka, and readings from this year’s shortlisted authors.
There was a ‘body percussion’ performance, a proud look back at the Gratiaen’s three-decade saga and finally the bumper announcement of not one but two winners: Chiranthi Rajapakse for her collection of short stories Keeping Time and Yudhanjaya Wijeratne for his science fiction book The Wretched and the Damned.
Also awarded this year was the tenth H.A.I. Goonetilleke Prize for translation, won by Manel Eriyagama, a product (and former staffer) of the Peradeniya University just as Goonetilleke was its first, esteemed librarian.
The Gratiaen Prize, established in 1992 by Michael Ondaatje with the Booker Prize money he won for The English Patient and named after his mother, recognizes the best creative work written in English each year by a Sri Lankan.
Manel Eriyagama receives her award from Prof. Neloufer de Mel
This year’s judges were Booker shortlisted Sri Lankan born novelist and poet Romesh Gunesekera (chair), academic Kaushalya Perera and ‘informed reader’ Sukanya Wignarajah.
Yudhanjaya said it is “fantastic and an absolute honour” and spoke of the ‘vast canvas of science fiction which goes back to Gilgamesh’ while Chiranthi added “one of the greatest things has been interacting with other writers (shortlisted and longlisted); sometimes in Sri Lanka we feel we are writing in the dark-we don’t work with editors and publishers- so an occasion like this is precious.”
Chairperson of the Gratiaen Trust Prof. Neloufer de Mel stated the “Gratiaen Prize in the milestone year has been very special to the Trust” and that the trust “would provide a platform to the next generation of writers”.
Echoed also, at the milestone event were the immutable words of Ondaatje, spoken at the initiation of the prize 30 years ago; tender yet momentous:
A section of the audience. Pix by M.A. Pushpa Kumara
“Nothing is as exciting for us as to find our own place, or our own stories, in a book. When that happens the self is doubled, we are no longer invisible.
“The Gratiaen Prize is an attempt, on the level, to share the wealth. I was lucky. But more important it has been set up to test and trust and celebrate ourselves, to discuss and argue about the literature that grows up around us, to take it seriously, not to just see it as a jewel or a decoration.”
And on the alchemic craft of translation:
“It is an ambitious wish to represent a culture fully and truthfully, and to be that vehicle of communication, between ourselves, as well as between who we really are and other countries. The great gift of our time in (is) translation. Imagine our image of Russia or South America without their authors. So imagine the portrait of Sri Lanka abroad without its artists. If we don’t support and take these real artists seriously we are in danger of being known only by the clichés of a tourist board and by the nature of our politics.”
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