Sri Lankan author Kanya D’Almeida wins 2021 Commonwealth Short Story Prize Source:-www.ft.lk Winning story about domestic workers speaks of ‘attempts by the poor and overlooked to voice their feelings’ Thirty-four-year-old Kanya D’Almeida has been announced as the overall winner of the world’s most global literature prize. The Commonwealth Foundation announced D’Almeida’s win in an online award ceremony which featured readings from Zambian author Mubanga Kalimamukwento, Sri Lankan actress Ranmali Mirchandani, British actress Lyndsey Marshal, Jamaican author Kei Miller and Australian actress Francesca Savige. D’Almeida, from Colombo, Sri Lanka, was named the winner by British-Jamaican actress Dona Croll who presented the online ceremony. D’Almeida is the first Sri Lankan to win the overall prize and the second to win for the Asia region. D’Almeida’s winning story, ‘I Cleaned The – ’, is a story about ‘dirty work’: domestic labour, abandonment, romantic encounters behind bathroom doors, and human waste. The Asia judge, Bangladeshi writer, translator and editor Khademul Islam, described it as “a life-affirming story of love among the rambutan and clove…
The post Sri Lankan author Kanya D’Almeida wins 2021 Commonwealth Short Story Prize appeared first on eLanka.
