Nayomi Munaweera is a Sri Lankan American writer and author of '' Island of a Thousand Mirrors'', which won Commonwealth Book Prize for the Asian Region in 2013, and '' What Lies Between Us'' (2016), which won the Sri Lankan

National Book Award The National Book Awards (NBA) are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. ...

for best English novel and the Godage Award.

Biography

Nayomi Munaweera was born in Sri Lanka in 1973. Her family moved to Nigeria when she was three. In 1984, there was a military coup in Nigeria and her family moved again, this time to Los Angeles. She holds bachelor's degree in Literature from the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California, United States. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, U ...

and a master's degree in South Asian Literature from the

University of California, Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Riverside, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of Cali ...

. Munaweera now lives in Oakland and teaches at Mills College and Ashland University. ''Island of a Thousand Mirrors'' was her

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to pu ...

and was published in South Asia in 2012. It went on to be nominated for many of the sub-continent's major literary prizes including Man Asian Literary Prize and won the Commonwealth Regional Prize for Asia in 2013. It was long listed for the International DUBLIN Literary Award and short listed for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. The novel was released in America by

St. Martin's Press St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan in New York City. It is headquartered in the Equitable Building (New York City), Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishe ...

in 2014. It tells the story of the Sri Lankan civil war (1983-2009) from the perspective of two girls -- one Tamil and one Sinhalese -- who witness the horror.

Works

* ''Island of a Thousand Mirrors'', Colombo: Perera Hussein Pub. House, ; New York: St. Martin's Griffin Press, 2016. * ''What Lies Between Us'' New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2016.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Munaweera, Nayomi Sri Lankan novelists Sri Lankan women novelists Sri Lankan emigrants to the United States Living people University of California, Irvine alumni University of California, Riverside alumni Sinhalese writers American novelists of Asian descent American women novelists Munaweera 1973 births