Romesh Gunesekera an inspirational veteran author from Asia
By Srimal Fernando
Romesh Gunesekera world renowned author and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature has published his most recent book The Prisoner of Paradise in 2012. He was the winner of the inaugural BBC Asia Award, for The Sandglass in 1998. Gunesekera grew up in Sri Lanka and in Philippines and continued to write essays and publish books from a young age.
Gunesekera now lives in London and is an expert veteran writer who contributes enormously to literature. His widely acclaimed first novel, Reef, was published in 1994 and was short-listed as a finalist for the Booker Prize.
Todd McEwan on the book review for Glasgow Herald on Gunesekera’s publication “The Prisoner of Paradise” remarked
“Seriously and movingly, The Prisoner of Paradise contains a very modern message: a plea for the book. It has as much to say about writing as it has about love and colonial misery”
His various works have become very familiar and have won many of the world's top literary prizes, including the prestigious Italian literary prize the Premio Mondello Five Continents Asia Prize for Reef in1997, Winner of Yorkshire Post First Work Prize (Reef) in 1995, the Commonwealth Writer’s Regional Prize for Heaven’s Edge and the New York Times Notable Book of the Year for Monkfish Moon in 2003.
He has attended readings, workshops, several literary events and forums in Europe, America, Africa and Asia. Confluences International Book Fair, Mauritius, Jaipur Literary Festival, India, Lauderdale House, London: Asian Literary Review Poetry Evening, Asia House Literary Festival, London are some of major event that he participated in in recent years . His summer workshop in Greece in 2008 was listed as a top ten activity destination in the Sunday Times.
In addition to his writing he is a distinguished judge for a number of literary prizes including the Caine Prize for African Writing, the David Cohen Literature Prize, the Forward Prize for Poetry and most recently the Granta 2013 list of the Best of Young British Novelists. He has been a Guest Director at the Cheltenham Festival, Associate Tutor at Goldsmiths College and he on the Board of the Arvon Foundation for writing.
Gunesekera is a veteran author with long career and will be a source of inspiration for many young writers.
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