Gratiaen Prize Winners & Short Listed Writers 1993-2023
Note: if you are a photographer and have not been credited here for your work, please contact us using the form on our Home page.
2023 (31st Gratiaen Prize)
Ramya Jirasinghe - Father Cabraal’s Recipe for Love Cake [novel]
SHORT LISTED
Pasan Jayasinghe - A Passing Return [travelogue]
Selvi Sachinthanandam - Gnanam [biography]
Vihanga Perera - Students and Rebels [novel]
Lal Medawattegedara - When Ghosts Die [novel]
2022 (30th Gratiaen Prize)
Chiranthi Rajapakse - Keeping Time and Other Stories [short stories]
Yudhanjaya Wijeratne - The Wretched and the Damned [novel]
SHORT LISTED
Isurinie Anuradha Mallawaarachchi - Flowers Teach Me To Let Go [poetry]
Shirani Rajapakse - Samsara [poetry]
2021
Ashok Ferrey - The Unmarriageable Man - [novel]
SHORT LISTED
Uvini Atukorala - A Place Called Home [unpublished manuscript]
Rizvina Morseth de Alwis - Talking to the Sky [unpublished manuscript]
Ciara Mandulee Mendis - The Lanka Box [unpublished manuscript]
2020
Carmel Miranda - Crossmatch - [novel]
SHORT LISTED
Ameena Hussein - Chasing Tall Tales and Mystics: Ibn Battuta in Sri Lanka [novel]
Jehan Aloysius - Mind Games [play]
Lal Medawattegedara - Restless Rust [novel]
Ciara Mandulee Mendis - The Red Brick Wall [short stories]
2019
Andrew Fidel Fernando - Upon a Sleepless Isle - [memoir/travelogue]
SHORT LISTED
Praveen Jayamanna - The Double Doorway [novel]
Upali Mahaliyana - Tom-tom Boy [novel]
Vihanga Perera - Sentimental Pieces / The Private Funeral / Classical War Poems [poetry]
2018
Arun Welandawe-Prematilleke – The One who Loves You So [play]
Photo credit: Tavish Gunasena
SHORT LISTED
Shehan Karunatilaka – Chats with the dead [novel]
Zeneefa Zaneer – They failed to kill her [novel]
Upali Mahaliyana – Youthful escapades [novel]
2017
Jean Arasanayagam – The Life of the Poet [poetry]
SHORT LISTED
Chiranthi Rajapakse – Names and Numbers [short stories]
Neshantha Harischandra – A House down Queer Street [novel]
Sunela Jayewardena – The Line of Lanka – [memoir/travelogue]
2016
Charulatha Abeysekara Thewarathanthri – Stories [novel]
SHORT LISTED
Jean Arasanayagam – Introspection [poetry]
Rizvina Morseth de Alwis – The Memory of Loss [novel]
Shehan Karunatilaka – SHORT EATS [short stories]
Vivimarie VanderPoorten – Borrowed Dust a collection of Poems [poetry]
2015
Thiagaraja Arasanayagam – White Lanterns – Wesak 2011 [poetry]
SHORT LISTED
Ashok Ferry - Ceaseless Chatter of Demons [novel]
Shehan Karunatilaka – Devil Dance [unpublished novel]
Chammi Rajapathirana – Traveller’s Tales [memoir]
Grace Wickremasinghe – Closure [poetry & short stories]
2014
Vihanga Perera – Love & Protest [poetry]
SHORT LISTED
Sandali Ash – Rao’s Guide to Lime Pickling [novella]
Ayathurai Santhan – Rails Run Parellel [novel]
Quintus G. Fernando – Celibacy Factor [novel]
2013
Malinda Seneviratne – Edges [poetry]
SHORT LISTED
Inosha Ijaz – This Nothingness [poetry]
Chamali Kariyawsam – A Patchwork Soul [poetry]
2012
Lal Medawattegedara – Playing PiIlow Politics at MGK [novel]
SHORT LISTED
Rizvina Morseth de Alwis – It’s not in the stars... [novel]
Ruwanthie de Chickera & Nadie Kammallaweera – Kalumali [play]
Malinda Seneviratne – Open Words are for Love-Letting [poetry]
Saroj Sinnetamby – The Professional [novel]
2011
Madhubhashini Disanayaka-Ratnayake – There's Something I Have to Tell You [novel]
SHORT LISTED
Charulatha Abeysekara Thewarathanthri – Autumn Leaves [novel]
Lucky de Chickera – Sarasu… Amidst Slums of Terror! [novel]
Mariam Riza – Cry For Me a Little: Stories Of The Souls [short stories]
Malinda Seneviratne – Some Texts are Made of Leaves [poetry]
2010
Sakuntala Sachithanandan – On the Streets and Other Revelations [poetry]
SHORT LISTED
Rozaine Cooray – Colours of the sun [novel]
Shyam Dissanayake – Dalada [novel]
Herman Gunaratne – The Suicide Club [short stories]
Shirani Rajapakse – Breaking News [short stories]
2009
Prashani Rambukwella – Mythil’s Secret [novel]
SHORT LISTED
Ayathurai Santhan – The Whirlwind [novel]
Premini Amerasinghe – Tangled Threads [poetry]
T. Arasanayagam – Singing of the Angels [poetry]
Asgar Hussein – The Mirror of Paradise [short stories]
2008
Shehan Karunatilaka – Chinaman – the Legend of Pradeep Mathew [novel]
SHORT LISTED
Anthea Senaratna – The Mango Tree [short stories]
Jehan Aloysius – The Ritual [play]
Malinda Seneviratne – The Underside of Silence [poetry]
Vihanga Kusal Perera – Stable Horses [novel]
Sybil Wettasinghe – Eternally Yours [memoir]
2007
Vivimarie Vanderpoorten – Nothing Prepares You [poetry]
SHORT LISTED
Ramya Chamalie Jirasinghe – A Map and a Compass Moon [poetry]
Chamali Kariyawasam – Sylphlike Ether [poetry]
Malinda Seneviratne – Threads [poetry]
Sivamohan Sumathy – Like Myth and Other [poetry]
2006
Seneka Abeyratne – 3 Star K [play]
Isankya Kodithuwakku – The Banana Tree Crisis [short stories]
SHORT LISTED
Ashok Ferrey – The Good Little Ceylonese Girl [short stories]
Rita Perera – Coalescing with Omega [novel]
Vihanga Perera – The (IR) (AU) Topsy [short stories]
2005
Delon Weerasinghe – Thicker Than Blood [drama]
SHORT LISTED
Senaka Abeyratne – Mad People [play]
Shehani Gomes – Learning to Fly [novel]
Madhubashini Ratnayake – Strange Tale of Love [short stories]
Chelliah Shanmugalingam – The Wait for Eternity [novel]
2004
Jagath Kumarasinghe – Kider Chetty Street [novel]
SHORT LISTED
David Blacker – A Cause Untrue [novel]
Neil Fernandopulle – This Side of Serendipity [short stories]
Pradeep Jeganathan – At the Water’s Edge [short stories]
Carl Muller – All God’s Children [short stories and poetry]
2003
Nihal Silva – Road from Elephant Pass [novel]
SHORT LISTED
Afdhel Aziz – China Bay Blues [poetry]
Mallika Jayasinghe – An Immigrant’s Diary [memoir]
Sunethra Rajakarunanayake – Sambol + [short stories]
M. Somasunderam – The Rubaiyat of Macbeth Daggers [poetry/play/prose]
2002
Vijitha Fernando – Out of the Darkness [novel] [based on Gunadasa Amaraskera’s novel Asatya Kathawa]
SHORT LISTED
Sandra Fernando – Candle and Other Poems [poetry]
Ashok Ferrey – Colpetty People [short stories]
Rohini Hensman – Playing Lions and Tigers [novel]
Lal Medawattegedera – The Window Cleaner’s Soul [short stories]
2001
Elmo Jayawardena – Sam’s Story [novel]
Sumathy Sivamohan – In the Shadow of the Gun/The Wicked Witch [play]
SHORT LISTED
Madhubashini Ratnayake – Tales of Shades and Shadow [short stories]
A.P.G. Sarathchandra – Bicycles and Bombs
Marisa Wickramanayake – Dreaming in Reality [poetry]
2000
Ruwanthie de Chickera – Middle of Silence [play]
Lakshmi de Silva – Kuveni [play] [translation of Henry Jayasena’s Kuveni]
SHORT LISTED
Jehan Aloysius – Screaming Minds [play]
Shehan Karunatilaka – The Painter [novel]
Eva Ranaweera – Blissfully [poetry]
1999
Visakesa Chandrasekaram – Forbidden Area [play]
Neil Fernandopulle – Shrapnel [short stories]
SHORT LISTED
Damayanthi Fernando – Saturn’s Children and Other Stories [short stories]
Ameena Hussein – Fifteen [short stories]
Flower Munasinghe – Divided Loyalty [short stories]
Maithri C. White – Skins
1998
Jeanne Thwaites – It’s a Sunny Day on the Moon [short stories]
SHORT LISTED
Premini Amerasinghe – Kaleidoscope [poetry]
Tissa Devendra – Tales from the Provinces [memoir]
Ramya Jirasinghe – Forgetting Memories [poetry]
Fathima Sithy – Title Life
1997
Gamini Akmeemana – The Mirage [novel]
SHORT LISTED
Wilfrid Jayasuriya – Kaleidoscope
Neluka Silva – The Choices We Make [novel]
Regi Siriwardena – Among My Souvenirs [novel]
J. S. Tissainayagam – Army Ward
Maithrie White – To Hold A Dream [short stories]
1996
Tissa Abeysekera – Bringing Tony Home [novel]
SHORT LISTED
Sita Kulatunga – The High Chair and Cancer Days [short stories]
Eva Ranaweera – With Maya [poetry]
Regi Siriwardena – The Lost Lenore [novella]
1995
Sybil Wettasinghe – The Child in Me [memoir]
Rajiva Wijesinha – Servants [short stories]
SHORT LISTED
Annie Amerasinghe – Donna Katherina [biography]
James Goonewardene – The Tribal Hangover [novel]
1994
Punyakante Wijenaike – Amulet [novel]
SHORT LISTED
Soma Jayakoddy – Madara [novel] (translated by V. Fernando)
Eva Ranaweera – What Will you Do Do Do Clara, What Will you do? [poetry]
Manel Ratnatunga – Saga Indonesia [memoir]
Regi Siriwardena – The Alms Giving and other Plays [plays]
1993
Carl Muller – Jam Fruit Tree [novel]
Lalitha Withanachchi – Wind Blows over the Hills [short stories]
SHORT LISTED
Senaka Abeyratne – Fragments of a Fugue [novel]
Ashley Halpe – Homing and Other Poems [poetry]
Sita Kulatunga – Dari the 3rd Wife [novel]