Brannavan Gnanalingam
Brannavan Gnanalingam is a writer, novelist, reviewer, lawyer and father of two based in Wellington.
He has published six novels. His 2020 novel, Sprigs, was shortlisted for the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction at the 2021 Ockham Book Awards.
2021 festival sessions
Sprigs
- in conversation with Tessa Nicholson
The Ockham judges praised Sprigs as “an unflinching novel which forces us to reckon with uncomfortable truths about power and privilege in Aotearoa”. The book comes with trigger warnings, but also nuanced storytelling and some comic relief.
Brannavan discusses the book and the issues around masculinity it puts in the spotlight.
True Grit
- with Becky Manawatu in conversation with Tessa Nicholson
Brannavan Gnanalingam and Becky Manawatu are two exciting new writers tackling confronting subject matter with compassion and courage.
Champions of the underdog, they have both drawn on personal traumatic experiences to inform their highly acclaimed novels, Sprigs and Auē, and gone on to win the favour of award judges and the reading public.