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Yasmine Gooneratne

Yasmine Gooneratne (1935 – 15 February 2024) was a Sri Lankan poet, short story writer, university professor and essayist. She was recognised in Sri Lanka, Australia, throughout Europe, and the United States, due to her substantial creative and critical publications in the field of English and post-colonial literature. After 35 years in Australia, she returned to live in Sri Lanka.

Gooneratne was educated at the University of Ceylon and Cambridge University. She held a personal chair in English as a Professor at Macquarie University in Sydney, and held an Emeritus position after her retirement.

Gooneratne was awarded Australia’s highest national honour, the Order of Australia, in 1990, for her services to Education and Literature.

Gooneratne was also awarded the Raja Rao Award in 2001, for ‘Outstanding Contribution To The Literature and Culture Of The South Asian Diaspora.’ This award was presented by the Samvad India Foundation and Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Gooneratne was also honoured with Sri Lanka’s Sahithyarathna Award for a lifetime achievement in Literature at The State Literary Festival in 2008. This award is described as ‘The Highest Honour bestowed by the State of Sri Lanka’, and was conferred on Gooneratne ‘For Her Immense Contribution To The Field Of English Literature.’

Gooneratne was invited to be a patron of Sri Lanka’s literary festival, The Galle Literary Festival – also known as ‘The Fairway Galle කැල්ලපත Literary Festival’ – at its inception, in 2005. Provided by Wikipedia