Shyam Selvadurai (born 12 February 1965) is a

Sri Lankan Canadian Sri Lankan Canadians refers to people from Sri Lanka who have arrived and settled in Canada. Among these immigration, immigrants include members from the Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil, Sri Lankan Moors, Moor, Sri Lankan Malays, Malay, Sinhalese people ...

novelist. He is most noted for his 1994 novel '' Funny Boy'', which won the

Books in Canada First Novel Award The Amazon Canada First Novel Award, formerly the Amazon.ca First Novel Award and the Books in Canada First Novel Award, is a Canadian literary award, co-presented by Amazon.ca and ''The Walrus'' to the best first novel in English published the p ...

and the

Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction The Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction is an annual literary award, presented by the Lambda Literary Foundation The Lambda Literary Foundation (also known as Lambda Literary) is an American LGBTQ literary organization whose mission is to ...

.Paul Chafe
"Shyam Selvadurai"
''

The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; ) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with financial support by the federal Department of Canadian Heritage and Society of Com ...

'', April 2, 2012.

Background

Selvadurai was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka to a Sinhalese mother and a

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

father—members of conflicting ethnic groups whose troubles form a major theme in his work. Ethnic riots in 1983 drove the family to emigrate to Canada when Selvadurai was nineteen. He attained a BFA at York University for Theatre in 1989, then achieved an MFA in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia in 2010. Selvadurai recounted an account of the discomfort he and his partner experienced during a period spent in Sri Lanka in 1997 in his essay "Coming Out" in ''Time'' Asia's special issue on the Asian diaspora in 2003.

Writing career

Selvadurai published ''Funny Boy'' in 1994, and followed up in 1998 with the novel ''Cinnamon Gardens''. In 2004, Selvadurai edited a collection of short stories: ''Story-Wallah: Short Fiction from South Asian Writers'', which includes works by

Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie ( ; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British and American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern wor ...

Monica Ali Monica Ali (; born 20 October 1967) is a British writer of Bangladeshi and English descent. In 2003, she was selected as one of the "Best of Young British Novelists" by ''Granta'' based on her unpublished manuscript; her debut novel, ''Brick L ...

, and

Hanif Kureishi Hanif Kureishi (born 5 December 1954) is a British Pakistani playwright, screenwriter, filmmaker, and novelist. He is known for his film '' My Beautiful Laundrette'' and novel '' The Buddha of Suburbia''. Early life and education Hanif Kureish ...

, among others. He published a young adult novel, '' Swimming in the Monsoon Sea'', in 2005. ''Swimming'' won the

Lambda Literary Award Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary Foundation, Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ+ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ+ literatur ...

in the Children's and Youth Literature category in 2006. He was a contributor to ''TOK: Writing the New Toronto, Book 1''. In 2013, he released a fourth novel, ''The Hungry Ghosts''. In 2013 Selvadurai's ''Funny Boy'' was included in the syllabus under marginalized study and gay literature of the under graduate English Department of

The American College in Madurai The American College, often referred to as American College, is one of the oldest colleges in India, located in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded in 1881 by American Christian missionaries. The red-brick buildings, in the Saracenic style, b ...

. In 2014, he was presented the Bonham Centre Award from The Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies,

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

, for his contributions to the advancement and education of issues around sexual identification. In 2020,

Deepa Mehta Deepa Mehta, (; born 15 September 1950) is an Indian-born Canadian film director and screenwriter, best known for her Elements Trilogy, Fire (1996 film), ''Fire'' (1996), ''Earth (1998 film), Earth'' (1998), and ''Water (2005 film), Water'' (2 ...

released the film '' Funny Boy'', an adaptation of Selvadurai's novel. At the

9th Canadian Screen Awards The 9th Canadian Screen Awards were presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television from 17–20 May 2021 to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2020. The presentations were held as a seri ...

in 2021, Mehta and Selvadurai won the award for Best Adapted Screenplay. In 2022, he released '' Mansions of the Moon'', a historical novel about the Buddha’s wife, Yasodhara.

Personal life

He currently lives in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

with his partner Andrew Champion. In 2016, a species of spider was named after Selvadurai called ''Brignolia Shyami'', a small goblin spider which is a pale yellow colour and between 1.4mm and 1.5mm in length.

Works

*'' Funny Boy''. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1994. (and others).

for Best Gay Male Novel, and Smithbooks/Books in Canada First Novel Award for 1994 * ''Cinnamon Gardens''. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1998. *'' Swimming in the Monsoon Sea''. Toronto: Tundra, 2005. . Lambda Literary Award in the Children's and Youth Literature category in 2006 *''Story-Wallah: Short Fiction from South Asian Writers''. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2005. (editor) *'' The Hungry Ghosts (novel)''. Toronto: Doubleday Canada, 2013. *''Many Roads Through Paradise: An Anthology Of Sri Lankan Literature''. London: Penguin Books Limited, 2014. (compiler and translator) *'' Mansions of the Moon''. 2022."66 works of Canadian fiction to watch for in spring 2022"

CBC Books CBC Arts () is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that creates and curates written articles, short documentaries, non-fiction series and interactive projects that represent the excellence of Canada's diverse artistic communitie ...

, January 11, 2022.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Selvadurai, Shyam 1965 births Canadian male novelists Canadian gay writers Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction winners Lambda Literary Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature winners Living people Novelists from Toronto Writers from Colombo Canadian people of Sri Lankan Tamil descent Sri Lankan emigrants to Canada Sri Lankan novelists Canadian writers of Asian descent Sri Lankan gay men Sri Lankan LGBTQ novelists Sri Lankan Tamil writers Sri Lankan Tamil people Sinhalese writers Canadian LGBTQ novelists Refugees in Canada Kala Keerthi 20th-century Canadian novelists 21st-century Canadian novelists 20th-century Canadian male writers 21st-century Canadian male writers Canadian children's writers Sri Lankan children's writers Best Screenplay Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners Canadian LGBTQ screenwriters Amazon.ca First Novel Award winners 21st-century Canadian screenwriters Gay screenwriters Canadian male screenwriters Gay novelists 21st-century Sri Lankan LGBTQ people 20th-century Sri Lankan LGBTQ people 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people 20th-century Canadian LGBTQ people