Brannavan Gnanalingam

Brannavan Gnanalingam (born 1983, Sri Lanka)[1] is a New Zealand author and practicing lawyer with the New Zealand firm Buddle Findlay at its Wellington office.[2]

Brannavan Gnanalingam
Born1983
Sri Lanka
CitizenshipNew Zealand
OccupationAuthor, Lawyer

Biography

Gnanalingam was born in Sri Lanka and grew up in Lower Hutt. His debut novel Getting Under Sail was published by Lawrence and Gibson in 2011.[3][4] The novel was based on a trip Gnanalingam undertook with two friends from Morocco to Ghana, which included being mistakenly detained for the French tourist killings in Mauritania.[5] The book was praised for "the narrator’s wry honesty, miles away from the usual Africa travelogue clichés".[6] In 2013 his second novel You Should Have Come Here When You Were Not Here was published and received positive reviews in New Zealand.[7][8] The book follows a trip by a middle-aged woman to Paris, who instead of finding it the city of love, experiences it as a cold and disorienting place. The book was based on Gnanalingam's time spent in Paris between 2012 and 2013[9][10] His third novel, Credit in the Straight World (2015), "a satirical account of the global financial crisis," was reviewed in Landfall,[11] a New Zealand literary journal established in 1947, which The Encyclopedia of Post-Colonial Literatures in English describes as: "the single most important journal in New Zealand literary history."[12]

His fourth novel, A Briefcase, Two Pies and a Penthouse (2016), was long-listed for the 2017 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards novel of the year.[13] His fifth novel published in 2017, Sodden Downstream, was short-listed for the 2018 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards novel of the year with The Spinoff books editor Steve Braunias noting that his inclusion was "a particularly good call."[14] In a review of the book The Pantograph Punch said, "His rendition of Kiwi idiom is some of the best you’ll read." [15] Gnanlingam confessed to The Dominion Post, talking about Sodden Downstream, "...[T]here are so few Sri Lankan characters in New Zealand literature. I wanted to reflect that....It's...based on the fact that the Sri Lankan Civil War was something that my family and I went through, so I can write from personal experience."[16]

From 2006-2016, Gnanalingam contributed to the online publication The Lumière Reader,[17][18] which is now on hiatus.[19] He covered film festivals such as Venice, Berlin, Rotterdam, and Cannes when writing for this publication.[9] He has also written for The Spinoff,[1] The New Zealand Listener, and The Dominion Post.[20]

Select Publications
  • Sprigs (Wellington: Lawrence & Gibson, 2020). ISBN 9780473526382
  • Sodden Downstream (Wellington: Lawrence & Gibson, 2017). ISBN 9780473410292
  • A Briefcase, Two Pies and a Penthouse (Wellington: Lawrence & Gibson, 2016). ISBN 9780473356347
  • Credit in the Straight World (Wellington: Lawrence & Gibson, 2015). ISBN 9780473319106
  • You Should Have Come Here When You Were Not Here (Wellington: Lawrence & Gibson, 2013). ISBN 9780473257187
  • Getting Under Sail (Wellington: Lawrence & Gibson, 2011). ISBN 9780473184674
gollark: Indeed.
gollark: The USB 3.2 Gen2x2 stuff is stupid, but it's basically fine.
gollark: What?
gollark: Well, cordless home phones still use it.
gollark: Can't wait for the inevitable merging of all wireless communication standards into one vast, incomprehensible monolith.

References
  1. "Brannavan Gnanalingam". The Spinoff. Retrieved 2018-04-04.
  2. "BUDDLEFINDLAY - Brannavan Gnanalingam". www.buddlefindlay.com. Retrieved 2018-04-04.
  3. Burgess, Malcolm (2011) 'Small and Cheekily Formed' Dominion Post, May 11 available online at <http://www.lawrenceandgibson.co.nz/2011/05/dominion-post-review-of-lawrence-and.html>.
  4. Dalgleish, Jodie (2011) 'Generation Xperimental' 1 Review Online October http://www.landfallreview.com/2011/10/generation-xperimental.html?q=Lawrence+and+Gibson
  5. Gnanalingam, Brannavan (2011) 'Mali and Me' NZ Listener http://www.listener.co.nz/lifestyle/travel/mali-and-me/
  6. Finnermore, Sam (2011) 'Privatising Parts by Richard Meros and Getting Under Sail by Brannavan Gnanalingam review' [Listener] http://www.listener.co.nz/culture/books/privatising-parts-by-richard-meros-and-getting-under-sail-by-brannavan-gnanalingam-review/
  7. Dennerstein, Natasha (2014) 'Book review: You Should Have Come Here When You Were Not Here, by Brannavan Gnanalingam' NZ Listener 30 January. http://www.listener.co.nz/culture/books/book-review-you-should-have-come-here-when-you-were-not-here-by-brannavan-gnanalingam/ Archived 2014-02-02 at the Wayback Machine
  8. Treloar, Abbie (2013) Review BooksellersNZ https://booksellersnz.wordpress.com/2014/01/08/book-review-you-should-have-come-when-you-were-not-here-by-brannavan-gnanalingam/
  9. "Conversations: Novel Beginnings | The Lumière Reader". Lumiere.net.nz. 2013-11-08. Retrieved 2018-04-24.
  10. "Author Brannavan Gnanalingam". 25 October 2013.
  11. Heritage, Elizabeth (May 2016). "Money [Book Review]". Landfall. 231: 188–190 – via informit.com.au.
  12. Caffin, Elizabeth (2005). Benson (ed.). Brasch, Charles Orwell. Encyclopedia of Post-Colonial Literatures in English (Second ed.). Abingdon, Oxon, UK/New York, NY, USA: Routledge. p. 141. ISBN 978-0415278850.
  13. 'Ockham 2017 Book Awards long-list revealed' Stuff http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/books/86710998/2017-ockham-nz-book-awards-longlist-revealed
  14. Braunias, Steve (2018) 'Diana, Brannavan, and the others: announcing the 2018 Ockham national book awards shortlist' https://thespinoff.co.nz/books/06-03-2018/diana-brannavan-and-the-others-announcing-the-2018-ockham-national-book-awards-shortlist/
  15. Lloyd, Therese (2017) 'Kindness of Strangers: A review of Sodden Downstream' http://pantograph-punch.com/post/sodden-downstream
  16. The New Dominion Post (November 4, 2017). "Minority Report". pressreader. Retrieved April 4, 2018.
  17. "Brannavan Gnanalingam | Authors | The Lumière Reader". Lumiere.net.nz. Retrieved 2018-04-24.
  18. "Brannavan Gnanalingam". Pantograph Punch. Retrieved 2018-04-04.
  19. "The Lumière Reader". The Lumière Reader. Retrieved April 4, 2018.
  20. "Brannavan Gnanalingam | WORD Christchurch". wordchristchurch.co.nz. Retrieved 2018-04-04.
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