Chinaman – The Forgotten Cricketing Legend

Pradeep Sivanathan Mathew: possibly the greatest cricket bowler of all-time. Yet the half-Tamil, half-Sinhalese cricketer seems to have been forgotten from records. It’s 1996, and WG Karunasena and his neighbour Ari set out to make a documentary about Pradeep Mathew.

It is the character of WG Karunasena (or Wije, as he is known) that narrates "Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew", the winner of this year’s Commonwealth Book Prize. Written by Shehan Karunatilaka, the book also won the 2012 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, and the Gratiaen Prize in 2008. 

Born in Galle, Sri Lanka, Shehan Karunatilaka studied Business and Administration at Massey University in New Zealand, after which he worked as an advertising copywriter. 

This evening, author Shehan will be at the Royal Commonwealth Society to discuss his award-winning novel. The event will be chaired by the Vijay Krishnarayan, Director of the Commonwealth Foundation and held in association with Commonwealth Writers.

The event is free to attend and you can register for tickets online here.