Brannavan Gnanalingam

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 described by the New Zealand Herald as a “tale of surreal humour and genuine insight” [11]

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.[12] 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."[13] In a review of the book The Pantograph Punch said, "His rendition of Kiwi idiom is some of the best you’ll read." [14] Gnanalingam 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."[15]

His 2020 novel, Sprigs, was longlisted for the 2021 Fiction award at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.[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]

• 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