Sri Lankan author Kanya D'Almeida has won the 2021 Commonwealth Short Story Prize

Kanya D'Almeida, a Sri Lankan writer and journalist, is the 2021 winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is an international award given annually to promote talented new and emerging voices and bring them to a global audience. D’Almeida is the first Sri Lankan to win the overall prize and the second to win for the Asia region.

The Commonwealth Foundation announced D’Almeida’s win in an online award ceremony on June 30 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.

The 2021 prize was judged by an international panel of writers, each representing one of the five regions of the Commonwealth, and chaired by South African writer Zoë Wicomb.

The other panellists are Nigerian writer A. Igoni Barrett; Bangladeshi writer, translator and editor Khademul Islam; British poet and fiction writer Keith Jarrett; Jamaican environmental activist, award-winning writer and 2012 Caribbean regional winner Diana McCaulay; and award-winning author and 2016 Pacific regional winner Tina Makereti from New Zealand. 

While at Hampshire College, D'Almeida studied English and political science. She holds an M.F.A. in fiction from Columbia University’s School of the Arts and is the host of The Darkest Light, a podcast exploring birth and motherhood in Sri Lanka.

 “I’ve long felt that fiction is the last ‘free’ place on earth in which to fully envision (and execute!) radical alternatives to the often dismal systems that govern us. To have won the prize for a story about two destitute, aging women in Sri Lanka digging through the debris of their lives in search of a little dignity is more than a blessing—it’s a firm order from the universe to keep inventing ways for the powerless to gather together, giggle together, and win,” D’Almeida said.

In partnership with the Commonwealth Writers, Granta publishes the regional winners of the 2021 Commonwealth Short Story Prize. Kanya D’Almeida’s ‘I Cleaned the –’ is the winning entry from Asia.

Here is the link to short story

https://granta.com/i-cleaned-the/