One of the gala events associated with the Fairway Galle Literary Festival is the presentation ceremony of the prestigious Fairway National Literary Awards, the most valuable literary prizes awarded in Sri Lanka. The Fairway National Literary Awards competition is the only one of its kind that accommodates all three main languages used in Sri Lanka. It was recently announced that the Fairway National Literary Awards 2017 ceremony will be held on the 26th of January 2018 at 5.30 pm at the Fairway Pavilion in Galle. 

Gracing the awards ceremony with his presence as chief guest will be the Honourable Minister of Finance and Media, Mr. Mangala Samaraweera. Several other Cabinet Ministers will also be present. 

The panels of judges have already selected a total of 13 novels for the shortlists – five from the Sinhala language category and four each from the English and Tamil language categories. Each shortlisted novelist in each language category will receive a cash prize of Rs. 100,000 while the eventual winner in each language category will receive a cash prize of Rs.500,000.

The judges for the English language category comprises of Ranjani Obeyesekere – academic, literary critic and translator in the fields of literature, and theatre and performance, ‘Jolly’ Somasundaram – retired civil servant, writer, playwright, and film and literary critic, and Arun Welandawe–Prematilleke – actor, playwright, director and specialist in immersive theatre. 

The shortlisted novels for 2017 in the English language category are,
‘Dutugemunu: Prince of Destiny’ by Rukmani Samaranayake, 
‘Song of the Sun God’ by Shankari Chandran, 
‘Wrath of Kali: The dark side of God by Mario Perera and
‘The Other One’ by Amanda Jay. 

The panel of judges for the Sinhala language category comprises of Gamini Viyangoda – writer, translator, social activist and political columnist, Buddhadasa Galappaththi – poet, writer, award winning columnist and stage drama make-up artist, and Prabha Manuratne – academic and literary critic championing feminist theory, Marxism and psychoanalysis. 

The novels that have been shortlisted for 2017 are,

Handha Paluwa Thani Tharuwa’ by Nishshanka Wijemanna, 
‘Yakada Silpara’ by Wimal Udaya Hapugodaarachchi, 
‘Garunda Muhurthaya ‘by Keerthi Welisarage,
‘PandakaPuthraWasthuwa’ by AnurasiriHettige and
‘NikiniKaluwara’ by Deepthi Mangala Rajapaksha. 

The Tamil language category’s judging panel comprises of V. Maheswaran – academic and award-winning writer, Sumathy Sivamohan – academic, award winning film-maker, writer, performer, playwright and poet, and M. S. M. Anes – academic, writer and translator in the areas of philosophy, culture, music and folklore. 

The four shortlisted novels for 2017 are,
‘Thazhumbu’ by M. Balasingham,
‘Kulaimurisal’ by J. Wahabdeen, 
‘Ethanam’ by Theniyaan and 
‘Neenthik Kadantha Nerupparu’ by N. Yohendranathan. 

The Fairway National Literary Awards are presented by Fairway Holdings with the objective of recognising, encouraging and rewarding excellent creative writing in Sri Lanka. The competition has become increasingly popular and the announcement of the winners for 2017 is eagerly awaited.