World Literary Awards

← Back to Home

Vajra Chandrasekera

ヴァジュラ・チャンドラセケラ

Vajra Chandrasekera

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1979-08-17 （Colombo）
Nationality
Sri Lankan
Languages
English
Residence History
Colombo, Sri Lanka

Career

Occupations
Writer, Editor
Active Years
2012-2025
Affiliations
Strange Horizons
Nominations
2024 Hugo Award for Best Novel Finalist, 2024 Nebula Award for Best Novel Nominee, 2025 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel Nominee

Awards

Nebula Award for Best Novel
2024
Work: The Saint of Bright Doors
Category: Best Novel
Organization: Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association
Result: 受賞
Crawford Award
2024
Work: The Saint of Bright Doors
Result: 受賞
Ignyte Award for Best Adult Novel
2024
Work: The Saint of Bright Doors
Result: 受賞
Locus Award for Best First Novel
2023
Work: The Saint of Bright Doors
Category: Best First Novel
Result: 受賞
Otherwise Award
2024
Work: Rakesfall
Result: 受賞
Ursula K. Le Guin Prize
2025
Work: Rakesfall
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Nebula Award 1 appearances
  1. Edition 59 (2024) Winner
    Work: The Saint of Bright Doors

    Fetter, raised from childhood to kill a holy leader, flees to a city of strange doors and tries to choose a life of his own. The novel layers religion, bureaucracy, and revolution while making fantasy and modern social life feel equally present.

    Beyond the doors is not another world, but a city layered with institutions and memory.

    368 pages
    religionrevolutioncitiesmemoryidentity

Works

Major Works

The Saint of Bright Doors

2023 Fantasy

Protagonist Fetter, trained by his mother to defeat his father, moves to the city of Luriat and seeks his own path, investigating the mystery of the city's fantastical doorways and connecting with a support group for the unchosen.

RevolutionWriting of historyChosen ones

Rakesfall

2024 Science Fiction/Fantasy

Focuses on the repeating reincarnations of Annelid and Leveret through tales mixing perspectives, genres, and plotlines, starting with their youth during the Sri Lankan civil war fallout.

ColonialismImperialismReincarnationSri Lankan history

Style & Themes

Literary Style
New WaveNew WeirdSlipstreamScience fantasy
Recurring Motifs
ColonialismGrief and hopePursuit of liberation

Legacy

Sri Lankan fantasy and SF author known for innovative works exploring Sri Lankan history and colonialism, with debut novel The Saint of Bright Doors winning multiple major awards.

Trivia

  • His father was a writer.
  • First job at 18 was writing fake product reviews for computer hardware.
  • Served as editor for Strange Horizons, which was a Hugo finalist multiple times.