The Gratiaen Prize is an annual literary prize for best work of literary writing in English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 by a resident Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

n. It was founded in 1992 by the Sri Lankan-born Canadian novelist Michael Ondaatje

Michael Ondaatje

Philip Michael Ondaatje , OC, is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian novelist and poet of Burgher origin. He is perhaps best known for his Booker Prize-winning novel, The English Patient, which was adapted into an Academy-Award-winning film.-Life and work:...

 with the money he received as joint-winner of the Booker Prize for his novel The English Patient

The English Patient

The English Patient is a 1992 novel by Sri Lankan-Canadian novelist Michael Ondaatje. The story deals with the gradually revealed histories of a critically burned English accented Hungarian man, his Canadian nurse, a Canadian-Italian thief, and an Indian sapper in the British Army as they live out...

. The prize is named after Michael Ondaatje's mother, Doris Gratiaen.

Winners

2009

• Prashani Rambukwella, Mythil's Secret

2008

• Shehan Karunatilaka
  Shehan Karunatilaka
  Shehan Karunatilaka is a Sri Lankan writer most notable for winning the 2008 Gratiaen Prize for his book Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew. In his own words, Chinaman used Cricket as a device to write about Sri Lankan society. His debut novel, The Painter, was shortlisted for the Gratiaen in...
  
  , Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew

2007

• Vivimarie Vanderpoorten
  Vivimarie Vanderpoorten
  Vivimarie VanderPoorten is a Sri Lankan poet. Her book Nothing Prepares You won the 2007 Gratiaen Prize. She was also awarded the 2009 SAARC Poetry Award in Delhi. She is of Belgian and Sinhala ancestry and grew up in Kurunegala...
  
  , Nothing Prepares You

2006

• Senaka Abeyratne, 3 Star K
• Isankya Kodittuwakku, The Banana Tree Crisis

2005

• Delon Weerasinghe, Thicker Than Blood

2004

• Jagath Kumarasinghe, Kider Chetty Street

2003

• Nihal De Silva
  Nihal De Silva
  Nihal De Silva is the author of "The Road From Elephant Pass", which won the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the Gratiaen Prize. He also published "The Far Spent Day" and "The Ginirella Conspiracy".- Biography :...
  
  , Road from Elephant Pass

2002

• Vijita Fernando
  Vijita Fernando
  Vijita Fernando is a Sri Lankan journalist, translator and fiction writer. She was a winner of the Gratiaen Prize and has received Sri Lanka’s State Literary Award.-Biography:...
  
  , Out of the Darkness

2001

• Elmo Jayawardene, Sam’s Story
• Sumathi Sivamohan, In the Shadow of the Gun/The Wicked Witch

2000

• Ruwanthi De Chickera, Middle of Silence

1999

• Neil Fernandopulle, Shrapnel
• Viskesa Chandrasekaram, Forbidden Area

1998

• Jeanne Thwaites, It’s a Sunny Day on the Moon

1997

• Gamini Akmeemana, The Mirage

1996

• Tissa Abeysekera, Bringing Tony Home

1995

• Sybil Wettasinghe, The Child in Me
• Rajiva Wijesingha, Servants

1994

• Punyakante Wijenaike, Amulet

1993

• Carl Muller
  Carl Muller
  Carl Muller is a Sri Lankan writer, poet and journalist best known for his trilogy about Burghers in Sri Lanka: The Jam Fruit Tree, Yakada Yaka and Once Upon A Tender Time...
  
  , The Jam Fruit Tree
• Lalitha Withanachchi, Wind Blows Over the Hills