The shortlist has been announced for the Gratiaen Prize 2015. The Gratiaen Prize is awarded each year to the best submitted creative work in English, written by a Sri Lankan writer resident in Sri Lanka. Both published works and unpublished manuscripts are accepted as submissions to the Prize, founded by Michael Ondaatje. The Gratiaen Prize 2015 is the first to be awarded under a new partnership between the Gratiaen Trust and Sarasavi Bookshop.

The shortlist announcement took place on Monday 4 April, hosted by the British Council, as this event has been since the inception of the Prize. Each year, the Gratiaen shortlist is known to the judges alone until the evening of the announcement. Authors learn of their selection at the event, where selected passages of their submissions are read to the assembled audience.

The shortlisted works for the Gratiaen Prize 2015 are:

1. T. Arasanayagam – White Lanterns: Wesak 2011 (unpublished poetry)

2. Ashok Ferry – Ceaseless Chatter of Demons (unpublished novel)

3. Shehan Karunatilaka – Devil Dance (unpublished novel)

4. Chammi Rajapathirana – Travellers Tales (published memoir)

5. Grace Wickramasinghe – Closure: Poetry and Prose (unpublished)

The judges for the Gratiaen Prize 2015 are: Capt. Elmo Jayawardena (Chair of the judging panel), former pilot, aviation trainer, award winning author and humanitarian worker; Tracy Holsinger, theatre practitioner, creative writer and lecturer in drama and speech; and Dr Dinali Devendra, Senior Lecturer and former head of the Language Studies Department, Open University of Sri Lanka.

The winner of The Gratiaen Prize 2015 will be announced at a final awards ceremony, sponsored by Sarasavi Bookshop Private limited, held on Saturday 14 May which .