WATCH THE FINAL | Andrew Fidel Fernando - Winner of the Gratiaen Prize 2019!
Citation – Winner
For its assured story-telling, keen observation, dry humour and sensitive navigation of complex and difficult truths; its effortless intertwining of fact and fable, history and anecdote in a rich tapestry of characters; for its incisive yet empathetic exploration of the ethos of a multicultural people grappling with its post-war realities, religious tensions and deep ethnic binds; a literary work that is both engaging and judicious in its descriptive writing of place, its tracing of the cartographies of memory and landscape, combining and creating a multitude of narratives pathways through a rich terrain of material,
For its presentation of a nuanced and insightful reflection of the cultural, political and historical context of a country through the medium of a contemporary traveller’s tale, the Gratiaen Prize 2019 is awarded to Upon A Sleepless Isle by Andrew Fidel Fernando.