Sunday, 25 May 2014 23:55
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Acclaimed journalist and Editor-in-Chief of Sri Lanka’s ‘The Nation’ newspaper Malinda Seneviratne won the coveted Gratiaen Prize – 2013 for Creative Writing in English.
He was recognised as the winner for his published collection of poetry ‘Edges’ on Saturday evening in Colombo.
The Gratiaen Prize, which was instituted by Michael Ondaatje in 1992 with the money he received as joint-winner of the Booker Prize for his novel ‘The English Patient,’ is awarded annually to the best work of literary writing in English by a resident Sri Lankan.
Malinda’s collection of poetry, according to the organisers of the prize, the Gratiaen Trust, “draws from perennial themes such as love and friendship to historically and geographically specific concerns regarding nationhood or identity”. “Many of the poems stand out for the way the personal and the political are interwoven as well as for their innovative and metaphor rich language. Intense emotion is recorded convincingly but without falling prey to sentimentality. The sustained manner in which thought and feeling, as well as language and imagery are given voice reveals the poet’s control over his craft,” the Trust said when it shortlisted the entry for this year. Malinda’s collection of unpublished poems was shortlisted for the Gratiaen Prize in 2011.
