H.A.I. Goonetileke Prize for Literary Translation

2022 Prize Members of the Jury

Dr. Prabha Manuratne - Chair of the Jury

Prabha Manuratne chairs the H.A.I. Goonetileke Prize jury this year. She is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of English, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, with expertise in English and Cultural Studies. Prabha obtained her PhD degree in English from the University of Buffalo, USA, and won the Isabel S. Marcus Research Fellowship for her dissertation on violence in global literature and cinema. She is a well-known critic of literature, film, popular culture, and art, and is a public intellectual who frequently engages with debates on education rights, women’s rights, art, theory, and culture in Sri Lanka.

Kaushalya Kumarasinghe

Kaushalya Kumarasinghe is a Sri Lankan writer and translator. Extracts of his novels Mey Rahas Kauluwen Ebenna (2014) and Nimnage Ithihasaya (2019) have been translated into English and published in the Routledge Companion to Sinhala Fiction from Post-war Sri Lanka (edited by Madhubashini Ratnayake). He is an editor of the Sinhala peer-reviewed journal of social sciences and humanities Patitha:Samaja Sanskruthika Sameeksha, and has translated social anthropological and philosophical literature into Sinhala. Kaushalya obtained his Bachelor of Law Degree from the University of Colombo, his MA in Socio-cultural Anthropology from the University of Durham, UK, and his MPhil in Sociology from the South Asian University (SAU), New Delhi. He is currently at SAU completing his PhD degree.

Dr. Ponni Arasu

Ponni Arasu is an activist, historian, theatre practitioner, lawyer and translator who has worked in different cities in India, in Toronto, Canada, and Batticaloa, Sri Lanka. She obtained a PhD degree from the University of Toronto for research on public political lives in Tamilnadu, and her translation practice and pedagogy emerge from a deep critical grounding and passion for ancient Tamil literature. She has translated feminist poetry including the work of poets such as Vijayaletchumi Sekar, Anar and Kamala Vasuki. A forthcoming translation of hers is of a children’s books titled Mermaids in the moonlight by Sharanya Manivannan.

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Michael Ondaatje also wanted to promote translations into English of Sinhala and Tamil language creative writing by Sri Lankans residing in Sri Lanka. His vision was that this would foster cross-ethnic relations and advance the international recognition of Sri Lankan creative writing in local languages. While translations came within the scope of the Gratiaen Prize at the beginning, in 2003, the Trust decided to award a separate Prize exclusively for translations to be awarded once in two years. This Prize was named the H.A.I. Goonetileke Prize for Literary Translation, after Michael Ondaatje’s close friend, first Chairperson of the Gratiaen Trust, and legendary librarian of the University of Peradeniya – Ian Goonetileke.

Both Prizes have now become a hallmark of the Sri Lankan literary calendar, eagerly anticipated by Sri Lankan writers, publishers, academics, students, and general readers both in Sri Lanka and overseas.

Past Winners of the H.A.I. Goonetileke Prize for Literary Translation

2021-2022 - Manel Eriyagama for Jewels: An English Translation of Selected Sinhala Short Stories by Contemporary Writers

2019-2020 - Malinda Seneviratne for The Indelible (Senkottan) by Mahinda Prasad Masimbula

2017-2018 - Vini Vitharana for Kav Silumina by Parākramabāhu II, King of Ceylon

2015-2016 - Aditha Dissanayake for Golden Casket (Ran Karanduwa) by Batuwangala Rahula Thero

2013-2014 - Vijitha Fernando for Time Rebounds (Kala Sarpa) by Keerthi Welisarage

2010-2012 - Malinda Seneviratne for The Hunter In the Wilderness of Sansara (Sansaaraaranyaye Dadayakkaraya) by Simon Nayagaththegama

2007-2008 - Edmund Jayasuriya for Sedona by Eva Ranaweera

2006 - Kumari Goonesekere for The Hour When the Moon Weeps by Liyanage Amarakeerthi

2005 - Vijitha Fernando for The Chameleon (Nandithaya) by Sunethra Rajakarunanayake

The Late Prof. Vini Vitharana for a translation of the Kav Silumina.