Sonali Deraniyagala (born 1964) is a Sri Lankan memoirist and economist. She currently serves as a lecturer in Economics at the SOAS South Asia Institute. She considers

Joan Didion Joan Didion (; December 5, 1934 – December 23, 2021) was an American writer. Along with Tom Wolfe, Hunter S. Thompson and Gay Talese, she is considered one of the pioneers of New Journalism. Didion's career began in the 1950s after she won ...

and

Michael Ondaatje Philip Michael Ondaatje (; born 12 September 1943) is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian poet, fiction writer, essayist, novelist, editor, and filmmaker. He is the recipient of multiple literary awards such as the Governor General's Award, the Giller P ...

her favourite literary heroes.

Personal life

Born in Colombo,

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

, She married economist Stephen Lissenburgh, and while on vacation at Sri Lanka's Yala National Park in December 2004, she lost her two sons, husband, parents, best friend, and her best friend's mother in the

Indian Ocean tsunami An earthquake and a tsunami, known as the Boxing Day Tsunami and, by the scientific community, the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, occurred at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7) on 26 December 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of northern Suma ...

. The tsunami carried her two miles inland and she was able to survive by clinging to a tree branch. She reportedly suffered unconciousness and internal bleeding. Following the tsunami, she was taken to her aunt's house in Colombo. At her aunt's house, stayed beneath the covers of her cousin’s bed, hoarding sleeping pills for comfort and solace, she even went onto stab herself with a

butter knife In common usage, a butter knife may refer to any non-serrated table knife designed with a dull edge and rounded point; formal cutlery patterns make a distinction between such a place knife (or table knife) and a butter knife. In this usage, a bu ...

and even smashed her head on the sharp corner of the wooden headboard of the bed in reaction to the disbelief of what she had witnessed during her vacation in Sri Lanka. She even attempted to commit

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and ...

and also began drinking

alcohol Alcohol most commonly refers to: * Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom * Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks Alcohol may also refer to: Chemicals * Ethanol, one of sev ...

in a bid to forget the tragedy. She went to New York at the end of 2006 and began a new life post the traumatic 2004 December tsunami indicating something similar to witness-protection-programme life. After moving to New York, she chose a small apartment in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

and her move to New York was an accident as she never intended to do so in first place. She was convinced by her therapist who suggested her to write down her painful memories to make her relax from the trauma. She began writing her memories in a form of memoir at her apartment in Greenwich Village. She started dating the actress

Fiona Shaw Fiona Shaw (born Fiona Mary Wilson; 10 July 1958) is an Irish film and theatre actress. She is known for her roles as Petunia Dursley in the ''Harry Potter'' film series (2001–2010), Marnie Stonebrook in the fourth season of the HBO ser ...

in 2018 after years of dating men only, the couple got married after Sonali proposed to her a few months later. They had their first child in October 2021.

Career

She studied

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics anal ...

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

and has a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

from the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. She is on the faculty of the Department of Economics at SOAS,

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degr ...

and is a research scholar at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in New York City. She lives in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, and

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. Post the tsunami, Deraniyagala relocated to New York where she became a visiting research scholar at

. Her 2013 memoir, ''

Wave In physics, mathematics, and related fields, a wave is a propagating dynamic disturbance (change from equilibrium) of one or more quantities. Waves can be periodic, in which case those quantities oscillate repeatedly about an equilibrium (re ...

'', recounts her experiences in the tsunami and the progression of her grief in the ensuing years. Sonali began writing her memoir ''Wave'' in 2010, where she described about her personal experiences aftermath the tsunami and how she coped up with it. The book became an instant hit and much to Sonali's surprise, it became one of the most sought-after memoirs globally. It was shortlisted for the 2013

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".PEN Ackerley Prize The Ackerley Prize (or, J. R. Ackerley Prize for Autobiography) is awarded annually to a literary autobiography of excellence, written by an author of British nationality and published during the preceding year. The winner receives £3,000. The ...

2013. This book is currently used as a prose passage in the education system (O/Level) for English Literature in

. She has also expressed her concerns, insights and opinions about the

2019–present Sri Lankan economic crisis The Sri Lankan economic crisis is an ongoing crisis in the island-state of Sri Lanka that started in 2019. It is the country's worst economic crisis since its independence in 1948. It has led to unprecedented levels of inflation, near-depletion ...

to various platforms.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deraniyagala, Sonali 1964 births Living people Alumni of the University of Cambridge Alumni of the University of Oxford Columbia University faculty Women memoirists People from Colombo Sri Lankan economists Sinhalese writers Sri Lankan women scientists 20th-century Sri Lankan writers 20th-century Sri Lankan women writers 21st-century Sri Lankan writers 21st-century Sri Lankan women writers Bisexual women Bisexual writers LGBT memoirists Bisexual scientists Sri Lankan LGBT people