Romesh Gunesekera
BIOGRAPHY
Romesh Gunesekera was born in 1954 in Sri Lanka where he spent his early years. Before coming to Britain he also lived in the Philippines. He now lives in London as a writer but travels widely. Recently he has been a writer-in-residence in Copenhagen, Singapore, Hong Kong and Southampton.
His first novel, Reef, was published in 1994. It was widely acclaimed and was short-listed as a finalist for the Booker Prize, as well as for the Guardian Fiction Prize. In the USA he was nominated for a New Voice Award.
Before that, in 1992 his first collection of stories, Monkfish Moon, was shortlisted for several prizes and named a New York Times Notable Book for 1993.
In 1998, he received the inaugural BBC Asia Award for Achievement in Writing & Literature for his novel The Sandglass. The previous year he was awarded one of the prestigious Italian literary prizes: the Premio Mondello Five Continents. In 1995 he won the Yorkshire Post Best First Work Award in Britain.
His poetry has also received prizes and been anthologized along with poems for children.
Reef and many of his stories have been broadcast on BBC as well as other national radio.
