Sri Lanka, April 11 -- The shortlist for the Gratiaen Prize 2020 was announced at an online event recently. This year out of the eight longlisted writers, five have been short-listed for the next stage of the competition: Ameena Hussain for Chasing Tall Tales and Mystics: Ibn Batuta in Sri Lanka - a creative telling of the journeys of Ibn Batuta; Carmel Miranda for Crosswatch - a medical mystery novel; Jehan Aloysius for Mind Games - a dramatic script; Lal Medawattegedara for Restless Rust - a novel in manuscript form; and Ciara Mandulee Mendis for Red Brick Wall a collection of short stories in manuscript form.

This year the judging panel is chaired by Mahendran Thiruvarangan, a Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the University of...