Shyam Selvadurai (born 12 February 1965) is a Sri Lankan Canadian novelist. He is most noted for his 1994 novel '' Funny Boy'', which won the

Books in Canada First Novel Award The Amazon.ca First Novel Award, formerly the Books in Canada First Novel Award, is a Canadian literary award, co-presented by Amazon.ca and ''The Walrus'' to the best first novel in English published the previous year by a citizen or resident o ...

and the

Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction The Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction is an annual literary award, presented by the Lambda Literary Foundation The Lambda Literary Foundation (also known as Lambda Literary) is an American LGBTQ literary organization whose mission is to ...

.Paul Chafe
"Shyam Selvadurai"
''

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'', April 2, 2012.

Background

Selvadurai was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka to a Sinhalese mother and a

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, na ...

father—members of conflicting ethnic groups whose troubles form a major theme in his work. Ethnic riots in 1983 drove the family to emigrate to Canada when Selvadurai was nineteen. He studied creative and professional writing as part of a Bachelor of Fine Arts program at

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,000 faculty and sta ...

. Selvadurai recounted an account of the discomfort he and his partner experienced during a period spent in Sri Lanka in 1997 in his essay "Coming Out" in ''Time'' Asia's special issue on the Asian diaspora in 2003.

Writing career

Selvadurai published ''Funny Boy'' in 1994, and followed up in 1998 with the novel ''Cinnamon Gardens''. In 2004, Selvadurai edited a collection of short stories: ''Story-Wallah: Short Fiction from South Asian Writers'', which includes works by

Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and ...

Monica Ali Monica Ali FRSL (born 20 October 1967) is a British writer of Bangladeshi and English heritage. In 2003, she was selected as one of the "Best of Young British Novelists" by ''Granta'' magazine based on her unpublished manuscript; her debut nove ...

, and

Hanif Kureishi Hanif Kureishi (born 5 December 1954) is a British playwright, screenwriter, filmmaker and novelist of South Asian and English descent. In 2008, ''The Times'' included Kureishi in its list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945. Early l ...

, among others. He published a young adult novel, ''Swimming in the Monsoon Sea'', in 2005. ''Swimming'' won the

Lambda Literary Award Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ literature.The awards were instituted i ...

in the Children's and Youth Literature category in 2006. He was a contributor to ''TOK: Writing the New Toronto, Book 1''. In 2013, he released a fourth novel, ''The Hungry Ghosts''. In 2013 Selvadurai's ''Funny Boy'' was included in the syllabus under marginalized study and gay literature of the under graduate English Department of The American College in Madurai. In 2014, he was presented the Bonham Centre Award from The Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies,

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

, for his contributions to the advancement and education of issues around sexual identification. In 2020,

Deepa Mehta Deepa Mehta, (; born 1 January 1950) is an Indian-born Canadian film director and screenwriter, best known for her Elements Trilogy, ''Fire'' (1996), ''Earth'' (1998), and ''Water'' (2005). ''Earth'' was submitted by India as its official ...

released the film '' Funny Boy'', an adaptation of Selvadurai's novel. At the

9th Canadian Screen Awards The 9th annual Canadian Screen Awards were held in the week of May 17 to 20, 2021, to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2020.Barry Hertz, "How one Canadian arts institution is rebuilding amid the p ...

in 2021, Mehta and Selvadurai won the award for

Best Adapted Screenplay This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress# ...

Personal life

He currently lives in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

with his partner Andrew Champion. In 2016, a species of spider was named after Selvadurai called ''Brignolia Shyami'', a small goblin spider which is a pale yellow colour and between 1.4mm and 1.5mm in length.

Bibliography

*'' Funny Boy''. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1994. (and others).

for Best Gay Male Novel, and Smithbooks/Books in Canada First Novel Award for 1994 *''Cinnamon Gardens''. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1998. *''Swimming in the Monsoon Sea''. Toronto: Tundra, 2005. Lambda Literary Award in the Children's and Youth Literature category in 2006 *''Story-Wallah: Short Fiction from South Asian Writers''. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2005. (editor) *''Swimming in the Monsoon Sea''. Toronto: Tundra Books, 2005. *''The Hungry Ghosts''. Toronto: Doubleday Canada, 2013. *''Many Roads Through Paradise: An Anthology Of Sri Lankan Literature''. London: Penguin Books Limited, 2014. (compiler and translator) *''Mansions of the Moon''. 2022."66 works of Canadian fiction to watch for in spring 2022"

CBC Books CBC Arts (french: Radio-Canada Arts) is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that creates and curates written articles, short documentaries, non-fiction series and interactive projects that represent the excellence of Canada's div ...

, January 11, 2022.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Selvadurai, Shyam 1965 births Canadian male novelists Canadian gay writers Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction winners Lambda Literary Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature winners Living people Writers from Toronto People from Colombo Canadian people of Sri Lankan Tamil descent Sri Lankan emigrants to Canada Sri Lankan novelists Canadian writers of Asian descent Sri Lankan LGBT people Sri Lankan Tamil writers Sinhalese writers Canadian LGBT novelists Applicants for refugee status in Canada Kala Keerthi 20th-century Canadian novelists 21st-century Canadian novelists 20th-century Canadian male writers 21st-century Canadian male writers Canadian children's writers Sri Lankan children's writers Best Screenplay Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners LGBT screenwriters Amazon.ca First Novel Award winners