The shortlist for the Gratiaen Prize 2013 will be announced at an event on Monday 7 April, 6pm at the British Council Library.  All are invited to attend the announcement and listen to the reading of excerpts from the shortlisted entries.

The Gratiaen Prize was founded in 1993 by the Sri Lankan-born writer Michael Ondaatje after he won the Booker Prize for The English Patient.  The Gratiaen Prize, presented in affiliation with Standard Chartered Bank, 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  Both published works and unpublished manuscripts may be submitted.

The judges for the Gratiaen Prize 2013 are: Tissa Devendra (Chairperson of the judging panel), a former senior civil servant and well known public figure; Shravika Damunupola Amarasekara, a Senior Lecturer at the Department of English, University Colombo and the Director of the university’s International Unit and  Vijay Nagaraj, a developmental professional with a keen in interest in South Asian literatures.

The shortlisted writers for 2013 will learn of their selection for the first time at the event on Monday 7 April.  Until this time, the decisions of the judges will be kept a closely guarded secret.  At the event excerpts of the shortlisted works will be read out and the judges will make comments on their choices.  This event, which is free and open to all, precedes the awarding of the prize to a final winner in May this year.

The shortlist event continues to be supported by The British Council, Sri Lanka. The Gratiaen Prize turns 21 this year.