Shyam Selvadurai
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Shyam Selvadurai (born 1965) is a Sri Lankan Canadian novelist who wrote Funny Boy (1994), which won the Books in Canada First Novel Award, and Cinnamon Gardens (1998). He was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka and is of mixed Tamil and Sinhala background, is Christian, and he is openly gay -- several problematic issues for a Sri Lankan resident. He moved to Canada with his family after the 1983 Colombo riots when he was nineteen. He received his B.F.A. from York University, and he currently lives in Toronto.
Selvadurai published a young adult novel, Swimming in the Monsoon Sea, in 2005. That book won the Lambda Literary Award in the Children's and Youth Literature category in 2006.
[edit] Major Publications
- Funny Boy, Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1994.
- Cinnamon Gardens, Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1998.
- Swimming in the Monsoon Sea, 2005.
[edit] Awards and Honors
- Funny Boy
- Lambda Literary Award for Best Gay Male Novel
- Smithbooks/Books in Canada First Novel Award for 1994
- Swimming in the Monsoon Sea
- Lambda Literary Award in the Children's and Youth Literature category in 2006