
LALINI SHANELA RANARAJA
Lalini Shanela Ranaraja is a multi-genre writer from Kandy, Sri Lanka.
She graduated cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Augustana College in Illinois
with a double major in anthropology and creative writing, and a minor in multimedia journalism and mass communication. Her research and writing interests include South Asian studies, gender-based violence, sexual assault, mental health, and gender equality.
While at Augustana she served as a Reading/Writing Center tutor,
was a reporter and features editor for the Augustana Observer, and contributed regularly to SAGA Art & Literary Magazine. In addition to SAGA and the Augustana Observer, her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Transition Magazine, Entropy, Lammergeier, Sky Island Journal, Club Plum Literary Journal, ANGLES Magazine, and The Sunday Times Sri Lanka. She also maintained a travel blog for the study abroad organization IES Abroad during an exchange program at the University of Amsterdam.
Her hobbies include photography, distance running, and linguistics;
she is fluent in French, German, and Sinhala, proficient in Dutch, and conversational in Japanese. She aspires to acquire many more languages in the coming years.
Awards and Honors
AUGUSTANA COLLEGE
2021
Peggy Anderson Creative Writer
Vasquez Valarezo Poetry Award
SAGA Vol. 84
1st Place Poetry and 3rd Place Prose
Audre Lorde Award
2020
SAGA Vol. 83
1st Place Prose and 1st Place Poetry
Audre Lorde Award
2019
Vasquez Valarezo Poetry Award
SAGA Vol. 82
2018
Vasquez Valarezo Poetry Award
Augustana Observer
Outstanding Young Journalist
PEARSON EDEXCEL
2016
2nd In The World, English Literature,
GCE A-Levels
2014
8 A*s, International GCSEs