Shehan Karunatilaka

Shehan Karunatilaka is a Sri Lankan writer most notable for winning the 2012 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature and the 2008 Gratiaen Prize for his book Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew. Chinaman uses cricket as a device to write about Sri Lankan society. It tells the story of an alcoholic journalist’s quest to track down a missing cricketer of the 1980s. On 21 May 2012, Chinaman was announced as the regional winner for Asia of the Commonwealth Book Prize 2012. Published to great acclaim in India and the UK, the book was one of the Waterstones 11 selected by British bookseller Waterstones as one of the top debuts of 2011 and was also shortlisted for the Shakti Bhatt First Novel Prize. His debut novel, The Painter, was shortlisted for the Gratiaen Prize in 2000, but was never published. He has played bass with Sri Lankan bands Independent Square and Powercut Circus