Australian Playwright Wins Big International Award
Topic is awards
S Shakthidharan won a big prize for drama, getting $250,000 to focus on writing without money worries.
Sri Lankan Australian playwright S Shakthidharan won the $250,000 Windham-Campbell Prize for drama.
This prize is given to writers of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and drama each year for their work. Writers are chosen in secret and can't apply.
Shakthi won for his plays about Sri Lankan Tamil migrant experiences, including his first play Counting and Cracking.
Counting and Cracking is a long play that spans nearly five decades.
Shakthi said he felt proud that his stories can be on the global stage.
He found out he won by email while making his first movie in Sri Lanka.
Shakthi said the stories he tells are not usual for this country.
He hopes this win shows a more progressive Australia to the world.
The prize money helps Shakthi continue his writing career.
Shakthi still has to work hard to succeed in this country.
He's happy to write without financial stress.
Shakthi wrote on Instagram that he's still in shock about his win.
The prize is for a writer's body of work, chosen by judges who read their work.
Shakthi likes that strangers overseas were moved by his stories.
Shakthi's play The Jungle and the Sea is about the Sri Lankan civil war.
The play was shown at Belvoir in 2022.
Shakthi's latest play, The Wrong Gods, is about progress and tradition.
Last year, Shakthi published his first memoir, Gather Up Your World in One Long Breath.
Shakthi is the director of Western Sydney theatre company Kurinji.
The Windham-Campbell judges called Shakthi a rare storyteller.
Other winners include British novelist Gwendoline Riley.
Past Australian winners include author Helen Garner.
The Jungle and the Sea will be shown at Belvoir St Theatre and Melbourne Theatre Company.
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