The Short List for the Gratiaen Prize 2020
Chasing Tall Tales and Mystics: Ibn Battuta in Sri Lanka - Ameena Hussein
Crossmatch - Carmel Miranda
Mind Games - Jehan Aloysius
Restless Rust - Lal Medawattegedara
The Red Brick Wall - Ciara Mandulee Mendis
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Chasing Tall Tales and Mystics: Ibn Battuta in Sri Lanka by Ameena Hussein traces the journey of the fabled Moroccan scholar Ibn Battuta in Sri Lanka, and meshes both his and her journeys to provide a rich tale of the island’s multicultural heritage.
Carmel Miranda’s Crossmatch is a debut novel, a double-threaded mystery set in Colombo’s medical world. When a young boy succumbs to his injuries in the ICU of a busy hospital, no one considers it anything but the result of a tragic accident. No one, that is, but Lotus, an introverted medical student, the narrator of the story, who witnesses his final moments. Determined to find out what really happened, she embarks on unravelling the mystery and is forced to confront some surprising truths about herself as well as reveal the dark secrets behind the apparently respectable façade of the medical establishment.
Jehan Aloysius writes, “Mind Games is a very real story for me. I’ve literally been working on the script for half my life. There are times when writers create works which are so deeply personal that we hope they can be universal. I firmly believe it’s important to break silence and stigma of mental illness. I sincerely hope Mind Games can stimulate more open discussion on the subject.”
Restless Rust by Lal Medawattegedara is a novel based on a dialogue between an anxious, bookish father-to-be and an irreverent and over-confident fetus. The expectant mother, exhausted after a hard day’s work, asks her husband to relate a story to their unborn daughter. But, like the quintessential anti-hero in a folktale, he decides to change the motifs of the story, and what ensues is a complex tale of human vulnerability.
The Red Brick Wall by Ciara Mandulee Mendis is a collection of short stories on the politics of language and culture in a postcolonial society. Portraying the manner in which gender, education, economy, administration and language make an impact on people, especially during a pandemic, it presents the consequences of reducing human beings and the complexities of life into a single story. The collection is a search for the similarities among people who are separated due to their differences.
Citations from the Jury
For the remarkable ability to imagine a vivid storyline out of the mundane; to depict the lives of a whole diverse cast of characters; for stories which tell of Sri Lankans from all cultures and classes through the lense of their relationship to, and their displacement from, home:
A Place Called Home by Uvini Atukorala
For technical and linguistic brilliance; for vivid characterizations of authentic and unforgettable characters; for the capturing of multiple locations and instantly recognizable depictions of 1980s Colombo and London; for the seamless integration of the ordinary and the bizarre; for nuanced telling of a story of complicated grief and coming- of -age with tenderness and humour; for it’s scope of ambition:
The Unmarriagable Man by Ashok Ferry
For capturing with depth and poignancy the world of the young in Sri Lanka with the clear-eyed perspective of today’s youth; for dialogue and language which so adeptly captures the unique way we Lankans think and talk; for the adept use of laugh-out-loud humour ; for vivid descriptions of experiences which are self-consciously Lankan:
The Lanka Box by Ciara Mandulee Mendis
For excellence in combining the political and personal in complex and subtle ways , and for grappling in human terms with the pressing issues around Islamophobia and the Muslim Community in Sri Lanka, told through the vivid dual voices of mother and daughter; for the skillful manner in which suspense is maintained until the last minute through a non-linear progression of the plot:
Talking to the Sky by Rizvana Morseth de Alwis