• SLBPA stands by ‘private award’ exclusion for Swarna Pusthaka and Rajatha Pusthaka

Sri Lanka’s book publishing industry is an ever-evolving space with local authors and poets striving to compete for readership and recognition with internationally acclaimed authors, while struggling to compete with other mediums of entertainment such as social media and streaming services that dominate public attention.

Interviews, book launches, and awards sometimes make up the only drops in publicity in a local author’s career. However, several changes in the Swarna Pusthaka and Rajatha Pusthaka Awards have got the publishing community talking.

The pursuit of fairness

The Swarna Pusthaka Award is an esteemed literary award given to Sinhala novels while the Rajatha Pusthaka Award is given to Sinhala short stories and poetry. Both are awarded annually by the Sri Lanka Book Publishers’ Association (SLBPA) and are in the pursuit of recognising literary work written in the Sinhala language.

However, a change in regulations that aims to promote a fair and unbiased competition opened a new dialogue on the role of private book awards.

Speaking to The Daily Morning Brunch, SLBPA Secretary Dinesh Kulatunga said that ensuring the objectivity of the judging panel is at the forefront of their decisions.

“One of our new conditions is that novels, short story collections, and poetry books that have already won awards or have been shortlisted for awards from private companies and regional institutes cannot be submitted for the awards,” Kulatunga said. 

“The reason is very simple. Books with praises such as the winner of such and such awards or shortlisted for such and such ceremonies or private awards would influence our judging panel and would then lead them to ignore other well written literary work by authors whose work was not recognised by private companies.”

Kulatunga said that judging panels in prestigious competitions such as the Swarna Pusthaka and Rajatha Pusthaka Awards should strive for impartiality in order to recognise the best of Sri Lanka’s literary culture.

“Private companies often have private interest in mind and we do not know if their decisions are 100% impartial,” Kulatunga said. “Therefore, we do not want this risk to seep into our judging panel.”

Yet, questions as to whether this decision is welcomed by all writers and publishers remain.

The publishers’ struggle

Many publishers, whether they be traditional or self-publishing companies, want the utmost recognition for their client’s work. A lot of them look forward to awards such as Swarna Pusthaka and Rajatha Pusthaka where their author’s works are showcased throughout the country.

Speaking to The Daily Morning Brunch, Vidarshana Publishers Managing Director Janaka Inimankada said that the new conditions have shocked the publishing industry and many publishers refuse to welcome this decision.

“Just because a book may have won or been shortlisted for a private award does not mean that it needs to be blocked from receiving nominations for other awards,” Inimankada said. “There are many high-quality books that deserve recognition that have not been accepted, yet books that have won or been shortlisted for private awards have been accepted for the past 18 years.”

Inimankada said that as a publisher, he fails to understand why such regulations have been put in place.

“Both Vidarshana Publishers and Godage Publishers have private awards,” Inimankada said. “And now both these publishing companies have been asked to remove several of their books.”

Attempts to contact Godage Publishers proved futile.

Writers’ worries

Out of all the parties affected by the new regulations, authors and poets are perhaps the most vocal. Several of them expressed their outrage through letters to the SLBPA as well as through social media posts.

“Of course, they can make any decision they want; however, when they exclude good quality books, it is a disrespect to the book that is being excluded, the author whose work is being excluded, as well as the Swarna Pusthaka and Rajatha Pusthaka Awards, as books of lower quality will now be able to win awards and gain recognition,” Writers’ Organisation of Sri Lanka (WOSL) Secretary Kamal Perera told The Daily Morning Brunch. “If these conditions remain, the literary community will soon cease to have respect for these awards as they make it easier for low-quality work to win awards.”

WOSL has requested that the new conditions be revised and that books that have won or have been shortlisted for private awards be allowed to compete.

Meanwhile, several writers have also been vocal on the new conditions as several of their books have been removed from competing in the awards.

“An author’s work must be able to compete at a national level and receive the recognition it deserves,” author Sunil Wijesiriwardene said. “As an author, I would be the happiest if my work is compared to other Sinhala novels so that I know where I stand and how I can improve as a writer.”

Wijesiriwardene noted that by excluding authors whose work has been recognised by private competitions, they would be robbing several of them of the recognition they deserve and of an income that they desperately need.

“Several authors do not have other sources of income and rely solely on the sales of their books in order to make a living and provide for their family,” Wijesiriwardene said. “By not allowing their work to compete, their sales and income will be affected in addition to their respectability as authors and poets.”

Other authors such as Ariyawansa Abeysekara and Bandula Jayaweera also expressed displeasure at the new conditions.

“I have been told that my work will not be considered as it has received recognition from private awards and therefore no longer meets the submission criteria,” Jayaweera said. “Personally, I feel disappointed and let down as I put in months of writing and have worked hard for my literary work to be recognised. Even if I don’t win, I want to be given a fair chance to compete and have my work critiqued.”

Abeysekara expressed similar displeasure at the new conditions but was hopeful of their reversal in the future.

“These conditions have not been well-received by the wider literary community and I hope that public pressure will influence the SLBPA to reverse their decision,” Abeysekara said.

As of writing, the SLBPA had not yet decided to reverse any such decisions and stood with the new conditions.