Minoli Salgado

Minoli Salgado
BornKuala Lumpur, Malaysia
OccupationWriter and academic
NationalitySri Lankan writer
Alma materUniversity of Sussex (BA);
University of Manchester (PGCE);
University of Warwick (MA, PhD)
Notable worksA Little Dust on the Eyes
Notable awardsSI Leeds Literary Prize
Website
minolisalgado.com

Minoli Salgado is a Sri Lankan writer and academic based in the United Kingdom who was born in Malaysia and educated mainly in England.[1] She has written extensively on migrant studies and diasporic literature and is the author of the critically acclaimed work Writing Sri Lanka. She also writes fiction and poetry, and her debut novel A Little Dust on the Eyes won the inaugural SI Leeds Literary Prize.

Biography

Born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Minoli Salgado was brought up in Sri Lanka, South East Asia and England,[2] attending schools in Penang Hill, Colombo, and North Devon, before going on to university studies in English Literature.[3] She earned a BA degree from the University of Sussex, PGCE from University of Manchester, and after gaining a PhD in Indo Anglian fiction from the University of Warwick she returned to the University of Sussex, where for many years she taught postcolonial literature, holding the positions of Tutorial Fellow, Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Reader and Professor of English.[3][4] In 2020, she joined Manchester Metropolitan University as Professor of International Writing,[5] and she is founding Director of the Centre for Migration and Postcolonial Studies (MAPS).[3]

Her 2006 book, Writing Sri Lanka: Literature, Resistance and the Politics of Place, is considered an influential study of Sri Lankan literature in English.[6] The first major study of Sri Lankan literature in English, it was researched by Salgado supported by a Leverhulme Fellowship and AHRC Research Grant.[7]

In 2012, her debut novel A Little Dust on the Eyes won the inaugural SI Leeds Literary Prize,[8][9] and in 2014 was published by Peepal Tree Press, being launched that year at the Southbank Centre as part of the London Literature Festival.[10] The novel was also longlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature.[11][12]

Her collection of short stories, Broken Jaw, was shortlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize and longlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction in 2020.

Selected bibliography

  • Writing Sri Lanka: Literature, Resistance and the Politics of Place (Routledge, 2007, ISBN 9780415364188)
  • A Little Dust on the Eyes – novel (Peepal Tree Press, 2014, ISBN 9781845232405)
  • Broken Jaw – short stories (London: The 87 Press, 2019, ISBN 9781916477445)
  • Twelve Cries from Home: In Search of Sri Lanka's Disappeared - non-fiction (Repeater Books, 2022, ISBN 9781914420054)

References

  1. ^ "People | Minoli Salgado". Wasafiri. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  2. ^ "Minoli Salgado". Peepal Tree Press. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  3. ^ a b c "About". Minoli Salgado website. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  4. ^ "Prof Minoli Salgado". University of Sussex. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  5. ^ "Minoli Salgado, Professor of International Writing". Manchester Writing School. Manchester Metropolitan University. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  6. ^ Daniel, Smriti (8 November 2015). "Returning again and again to a familiar landscape". The Sunday Times. Sri Lanka. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  7. ^ "Scholarly Work". Minoli Salgado website. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  8. ^ "Must Be Heard". Commonwealth Writers. 9 October 2014. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  9. ^ "Writer eyes book deal after winning top prize". The-Latest.com. 10 October 2012.
  10. ^ "A Little Dust on the Eyes". Minoli Salgado website. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  11. ^ Cowdrey, Katherine (19 October 2015). "Sharma, Mukherjee and Salgado on DSC South Asian Literature longlist". The Bookseller. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  12. ^ Mazumdar, Arunima (18 October 2015). "A reader's guide to the 11 books on the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature longlist". Scroll.in. Retrieved 31 August 2021.

Further reading

  • Birte Heidemann, "'When the making of history was the making of silence': An Interview with Minoli Salgado", Postcolonial Text, Vol. 11, No 4 (2016).
  • Liam O'Loughlin, "'A Different Way of Seeing”: An Interview with Minoli Salgado', ARIEL: A Review of International English Literature, 47.4 (2016), pp. 163–173.
  • Azad Ashim Sharma, "'When Words Become Dangerous': In Conversation with Minoli Salgado", Wasafiri, 99 (Autumn 2019), pp. 20–25.