The winners of the Fairway National Literary Award were announced on Jnauary 15 January at the Fairway Hospitality Marquee in Galle.
As the title sponsor of the Fairway Galle Literary Festival, Fairway Holdings introduced this award as the only award in Sri Lanka to give recognition to Sinhala, Tamil and English novelists.
The chief guest for the event, Honourable Maithree Wickramasinghe, described a literary award as a ‘symbol of excellence’.
The Sinhala category panellists Dr. Sunil Wijesiriwardena, Dr. Nirmal Dewasiri and Harshana Rambukwella shortlisted 4 novels; ‘Ran Karaduwa’ by Batuwangela Rahula Thero, ‘Maha Sami’ by Sepali Mayadunne, ‘Mey Rahas Kaluwen Ebbenna’ by Kaushalya Kumarasinghe and ‘Raja Saha Gathakaya’ by Visakesa Chandrasekaram.
The award was received by Sepali Mayadunne for her novel ‘Maha Sami’. The panelist described her work as a ‘subtle and creative construction of the life of the Kandyan people and literature’.
“I wrote this book for 5 years” she says to Daily Mirror after the ceremony, “Writing the book is the best you can do. After that it’s up to the panel to decide where it’s worthy,”
The panel for the English category consisting of Lal Medawattegegara, Shyamalee Tudawe and Tissa Jayatilaka shortlisted 5 novels; ‘Strange Fruit’ by Afdhel Aziz, ‘Rails Run Parallel’ by Ayathuraj Santhan, ‘It’s Not in the Stars’ by Rizvina Morseth de Alwis, ‘The King and the Assassin’ by Visakesa Chandrasekaram, and ‘Sinhala Only’ by Manuka Wijesinghe.
The award was shared by 2 authors, Ayathuraj Santhan for his novel ‘Rails Run Parallel’ and Rizvina Morseth de Alwis for ‘It’s Not in the Stars’. Speaking to us, Ayathuraj Santhan had this to say, “I’m honoured to be in the company of such great authors. I spent about 15 years writing this book. I started writing it when I was living in Sri Lanka in the 90’s and it’s so nice to be here in the company of people who love books. There is nothing better than meeting people who’ve read your book!"
The Tamil category panellists upon reviewing all entries chose not to compile a short list stating that ‘the submissions are mere fictions, lacking standards of good novels that aesthetically depict the complexity of real human life and its nuances”
The ‘Fairway Holdings Encouragement Award’ was awarded to 15 year old Sajani Jayathma Senanayake for her book ‘The Pearl of Truth’.
Just moments after her win she spoke to us on what it felt to receive this award, “I’m really surprised I got the award. I like to thank my parents, the teachers and my principal. I also want to thank Fairway Holdings for this award!”
The winner of each category received an award of Rs. 500,000 while shortlisted authors walked away with a cash prize of Rs. 100,000.
By Panchali Illankoon
Photographs by Pradeep Dilrukshana
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