About Michael Mendis

Posted on 04/02/2014
By Commonwealth Foundation

Michael Mendis
Michael Mendis joined us on the site during February 2014.
Michael is a writer whose work bridges fiction and non-fiction. As winner of the 2013 Commonwealth Short Story Prize (Asia Region), he has had work published in Granta: his winning entry, The Sarong-Man in the Old House, and an Incubus for a Rainy Night.
You can find most of his current writing at his blog, Ironing Undertaken, which is his preferred platform of publication.
With experience as a political journalist and a features writer, having worked for such Sri Lankan news outlets as Ceylon Today and Lakbima, Michael is reading law at the University of Colombo.
With his posts Michael’s intention was to spotlight Sri Lankan writing: particularly, the confluences of writing for self and writing for audience, and what that means for a writer located in a world that is not, at least predominantly, English-speaking. He discusses his inspirations and, relatedly, the propriety or foolhardiness – as the case may be – of writing for a cause.
Born in 1990, and educated at a Catholic boys’ school in Colombo, Michael is the fourth in a family of five children. He likes dogs, debating, and night-time Colombo.

READ MICHAEL'S POSTS