The Gratiaen Prize 2025 - Winner (33rd Gratiaen Prize)

In a society that is perennially chained to heteronormative politics and Buddhist ideologies, Visakesa Chandrasekaram’s The Son and the Lover makes a bold intervention in exploring a queer relationship between a Buddhist monk and a white Australian. In this page-turner that presents a meditation on a radical relationship between two star-crossed lovers across ethnic, national, and spiritual borders, the author never fails the reader. Chandrasekaram has a knack for portraying complex human emotions that often defy representation. While weaving the narrative within the recent religio-political tensions in Sri Lanka where Buddhist monks have played an outsized role as politically motivated agents and Australia which harbors a post-racial fantasy, Chandrasekaram takes us on a ride with the character arc of Hasi, the monk who derobes to pursue his dreams with his lover Phil. The story takes a radical departure from the usual escape narrative that views the West as the site of queer emancipation. Chandrasekaram’s novel, in this manner, daringly looks for alternative spaces for queer futures and hope.

The Son and the Lover is a spectacular literary feat accomplished with a magical imagination, evoking the cinematic paintings of Saytajit Ray juxtaposed with uncanny dream sequences characteristic of David Lynch’s cinema. The novel’s lyrical prose is matched by its deftness to portray profound human emotions with unparalleled depth, masterfully dissect desire and resuscitation, and articulate a philosophy of life. It is a tour de force that introduces a rebel to the Sri Lankan literary scene.

– Dinidu Karunanayake - 

33rd Gratiaen Prize Jury

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