Shyam Selvadurai

Shyam Selvadurai is a novelist who was born in 1965 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. He is a Canadian novelist who is known for his exploration of sexuality, identity, and cultural conflict. His mother is Sinhalese and father is a Tamil. He faced the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. At the age of 19, their family migrated to Canada to escape the conflict. Shyam pursued his passion by studying Bachelor of Fine Arts at York University and Master of Fine Arts at the University of British Columbia. His debut novel is ‘ Funny Boy’ (1994), about the backdrop of Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflicts and translated into 8 other languages. This novel gained a critical success, as he received the Canada first novel award and Lambda Literary Award for Best Gay Men’s Fiction. His work includes ‘ Cinnamon Garden’ (1998), which tells about the complexities of Sri Lankan society in the 1920s, ‘Swimming in the Monsoon Sea’ (2005), an adult novel that won the Lambda Award and also translated in 9 other languages, and ‘ The Hungry Ghosts’ (2013), which explores the theme of family migration and spirituality. Beyond his novel career, he has also contributed to the literature. He edited the ‘Story-Wallah: A Celebration of South Asian Fiction’ (2005). Selvadurai’s works have been translated into various languages that showcasing global recognition.