Gratiaen Prize 2020 - Panel of Judges

Mahendran Thiruvarangan (chair)

Mahendran Thiruvarangan is a Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Jaffna. He obtained his PhD from the City University of New York in 2019. His graduate research focused on representations of coexistence and resistance in contemporary South Asian writings and human rights narratives. His PhD dissertation co-won the Alumni and Doctoral Faculty Prize for the Most Distinguished Dissertation of the Year awarded by the PhD Program in English at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. At the University of Jaffna, Dr. Thiruvarangan teaches courses in postcolonial literatures and early-modern writings. He also writes in the print and electronic media, in both Tamil and English, about contemporary socio-political issues.

Victoria Walker

Victoria Walker is a passionate supporter of the arts and is an avid reader of both fiction and non-fiction.  She works on a voluntary basis with Sri Lanka’s Design for Sustainable Development Foundation and other non-government organizations to support rural artisans and promote design innovation and excellence in craft and handmade textiles. Ms Walker is an international relations expert and former diplomat with over twenty-five years’ experience as a senior official in the Australian foreign service. She has been posted in Laos, Canada, India and USA, and her areas of expertise include sustainable development, women’s rights and international environmental negotiations.  

Ashok Ferrey

Ashok Ferrey is the author of five books – four of them short listed for the Gratiaen Prize, the fifth for Sri Lanka’s State Literary Award. His most recent, The Ceaseless Chatter of Demons, was also long listed for the DSC Prize for South Asian literature. Ashok read Pure Mathematics at Oxford University before forging a career as a builder in London. In Colombo he is a guest lecturer at the City School of Architecture and continues to design houses – his most recent, the Cricket Club Café. He has also been nominated for a Geoffrey Bawa Award. His new book The Unmarriageable Man is due for release by Penguin in April 2021.