Romesh Gunesekera

FRSL The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the ...

(born 1954) is a

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

n-born British author, who was shortlisted for the

Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a prestigious literary award conferred each year for the best single work of sustained fiction written in the English language, wh ...

for his novel ''

Reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral, or similar relatively stable material lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic component, abiotic (non-living) processes such as deposition (geol ...

'' in 1994. He has judged a number of literary prizes and was Chair of the judges of Commonwealth Short Story Prize competition for 2015.

Life and work

Born in

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

to a Sinhalese

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

family in 1954, Romesh Gunesekera grew up in

and the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

, where his father was a founder of the

Asian Development Bank The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank to promote social and economic development in Asia. The bank is headquartered in Metro Manila, Philippines and maintains 31 field offices around the world. The bank was establishe ...

, and moved to England in 1971 and currently lives in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. His first book, ''Monkfish Moon'', a collection of short stories reflecting the ethnic and political tensions that have threatened

since independence in 1948, was published in 1992, and was shortlisted for several prizes. His 1994 novel ''

'' was shortlisted for the

. Gunesekera travels widely for festivals, workshops and

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lang ...

tours. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Asia House Festival of Asian Literature. He is currently one of the writers-in-residence for the charity

First Story First Story is an English charity that encourages children and young people to write creatively, outside the curriculum, for self-expression and pleasure. Its aim is to empower children and young people from low-income communities to find and dev ...

. 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, the David Cohen Prize for Literature, the Forward Prize for Poetry and most recently the ''

Granta ''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story's supreme ability to describe, illuminate and make ...

'' 2013 list of the Best of Young British Novelists. He chaired the board of judges of the 2015 Commonwealth Short Story Prize competition. He has been a Guest Director at the

Cheltenham Festival The Cheltenham Festival is a horse racing-based meeting in the National Hunt racing calendar in the United Kingdom, with race prize money second only to the Grand National. The four-day festival takes place annually in March at Cheltenham Race ...

, an Associate Tutor at

Goldsmiths College Goldsmiths, University of London, formerly Goldsmiths College, University of London, is a Member institutions of the University of London, constituent research university of the University of London. It was originally founded in 1891 as The G ...

and on the Board of the Arvon Foundation. For four years, until 2013, he was on the Council of the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 800 Fellows, elect ...

. He is married with two daughters.Bunbury, Stephanie (2 September 2006). "Finding meaning in a long gone past", ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'', Insight, p. 10.

Bibliography

Books

* *''

'' – 1994 *''The Sandglass'' – 1998 *''Heaven's Edge'' – 2002 *''The Match'' – 2006 *''The Prisoner of Paradise'' – 2012 *''Noon Tide Toll'' – 2013 *''Suncatcher'' – 2019

Short fiction

Awards

*Asian Achievers Award for services to media, arts and culture 2015 *Sri Lanka Ranjana 2005 *

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Asia Award 1998 for Achievement in Writing & Literature *Winner Premio Mondello Five Continents Asia Prize 1997 (Reef) *Winner of ''

Yorkshire Post ''The Yorkshire Post'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper, published in Leeds, Yorkshire, England. It primarily covers stories from Yorkshire, although its masthead carries the slogan "Yorkshire's National Newspaper". It was previously owned by ...

'' First Work Prize 1995 (for ''Reef'') *Finalist

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 An arts council is a government or private non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts; mainly by funding local artists, awarding prizes, and organizing arts events. They often operate at arms-length from the government to prevent pol ...

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

External links

* *
Romesh Gunesekera
at the

Biography, bibliography and critical perspective of the author at contemporarywriters.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gunesekera, Romesh 1954 births Living people 20th-century British novelists 21st-century British novelists British Asian writers British male novelists English people of Sri Lankan descent Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Sri Lanka Ranajana Sri Lankan novelists The New Yorker people 20th-century British male writers 21st-century British male writers