Winner of the Gratiaen Prize 2014, Vihanga Perera on his book "Love and Protest"

Vihanga Perera is a study in contrasts. On the internet and in the media, he is a forceful voice and a happy dissenter of mainstream opinion. As a published author he is confrontational and prone to writing well received if somewhat inflammatory text. In person he’s laidback, amusing and genuinely, thoroughly baffled as to why his work is misunderstood and occasionally even “not understood at all”. The latter doesn’t seem to matter as much, of course, when seen in the light of his Gratiaen win last week. Vihanga’s poetry collection ‘Love and Protest’ earned him the prestigious literary prize which is awarded every year to outstanding works of literature in English produced by a resident of Sri Lanka. This is his third time being shortlisted for the Gratiaen award. Vihanga’s winning speech was short – he thanked those who had to be thanked and casually urged everyone to buy his book (available at leading bookshops islandwide). Winning the Gratiaen is a big deal, he tells us. “As a writer if you have a channel that you can use to push your work out there then you have to use it.” Delivering the judges’ comments, chairperson of the panel, Dr. Sonali Deraniyagala praised ‘Love and Protest’ as a “powerful collection of poetry dealing with the contemporary.” The poems were “distilled with nuance and clarity,” she noted “and they were expressive and uniquely Sri Lankan.” ‘Love and Protest’ is a collection of 50 poems on love (largely) and contemporary topics that Vihanga penned over 2013 and 2014, compiled by Paw Print Publishing.