Gamini Akmeemana

Gamini Akmeemana is a Sri Lankan writer, journalist, photographer and editor. He won the Gratiaen Prize for his work The Mirage (1997).

Biography

Gamini grew up in the Southern Province. He attended Sri Sumangala College and he later switched to Ananda College.

Career

He pursued his career as a scribe in 1982, working for the Jordan Times. In 1996, he joined the Midweek Mirror, which was a weekly edition of the Daily Mirror. He later embarked on a career towards honing his skills in photography, and he also predominantly focused on the aspects of photojournalism. He then worked for a short time as a photojournalist for AFP News Agency before becoming the feature writer at The Island newspaper for a brief period.

Akmeemana wrote the unpublished manuscript The Mirage about writer and activist Rajani Thiranagama's life and assassination in a four-month marathon. It won the Gratiaen Prize in 1997 despite competition from another Sri Lankan writer with a well received book released in a heavily publicized fashion.

He later rejoined as the editor at Daily Mirror and he served in the Daily Mirror's Associate Features column. In 2021, his short story The Lucky Charm was conferred with the first prize in the prose section at the 2021 Literary Competition which was organised and conducted by the English Writers Collective of Sri Lanka. He was also adjudged as the winner of Arts Council Award on few occasions.