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Shankari Chandran

Goodreads Author

Website

http://shankarichandran.com/

Genre

Fiction, Historical Fiction

Member Since

January 2017

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Shankari Chandran uses literary fiction to explore injustice, dispossession and the creation of community.

Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens is her third novel, published by Ultimo Press in 2022 and short-listed for the Miles Franklin Literary Award 2023. Her first novel, Song of the Sun God, was also re-published by Ultimo Press in 2022.

Before turning to fiction, Shankari worked in the social justice field for a decade in London where she was responsible for projects in over 30 countries ranging from ensuring representation for detainees in Guantanamo Bay to advising UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Her work helped her understand the role and limitations of international humanitarian law in conflicts. It also showed her what happens to society Shankari Chandran uses literary fiction to explore injustice, dispossession and the creation of community.

Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens is her third novel, published by Ultimo Press in 2022 and short-listed for the Miles Franklin Literary Award 2023. Her first novel, Song of the Sun God, was also re-published by Ultimo Press in 2022.

Before turning to fiction, Shankari worked in the social justice field for a decade in London where she was responsible for projects in over 30 countries ranging from ensuring representation for detainees in Guantanamo Bay to advising UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Her work helped her understand the role and limitations of international humanitarian law in conflicts. It also showed her what happens to society when governments subvert civil liberties. These issues form major themes in her writing.

Shankari wanted to write from childhood but kept her stories and her courage inside her head for a long time. She finally committed to creative writing when faced with the life changing events of returning from London to her home in Australia, and the birth of her fourth child in 2010.

In January 2017, she published her first book, Song of the Sun God with Perera-Hussein, about three generations of Australian Tamil women and the choices they make to survive Sri Lanka's civil war. Her second book, The Barrier, was published by Pan Macmillan Australia in June 2017. It asks, what would happen to the world if an Ebola pandemic and religious wars converged?

Song of the Sun God was long-listed for the International Dublin Literary Award (2019) and short-listed for Sri Lanka's Fairway National Literary Award (2018). The Barrier was short-listed for the Norma K Hemming Award for Speculative Fiction (2018). Song of the Sun God is being adapted for television, starring Bridgerton’s Charithra Chandran (no relation).

Her short stories have been published in the critically acclaimed anthologies, Another Australia and Sweatshop Women (Vol 2) by Affirm Press/Sweatshop and she is the deputy chair of Writing NSW.

She continues her work in social impact for an Australian national retailer. She is based in Sydney, Australia, where she lives with her husband and her four children.

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Shankari Chandran’s books

Average rating: 4.15 · 19,135 ratings · 2,293 reviews · 8 distinct works • Similar authors

	Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens 4.15 avg rating — 13,816 ratings — published 2022 — 14 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Safe Haven 4.11 avg rating — 2,776 ratings — published 2024 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Song of the Sun God 4.34 avg rating — 1,665 ratings — published 2017 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Unfinished Business by Shankari Chandran (Goodreads Author), Nicholas Brown (Narrator), Pallavi Sharda (Narrator) 3.71 avg rating — 679 ratings — published 2024 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Barrier 3.85 avg rating — 157 ratings — published 2017 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Sweatshop Women: Volume 2 by Winnie Dunn (Editor), Ruby Hamad (Foreword), Christine Afoa (Contributor) 4.46 avg rating — 39 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Sense of Viidu: The (Re)creation of Home by the Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora in Australia by Niro Kandasamy (Editor), Nirukshi Perera (Editor), Charishma Ratnam (Editor) 4.50 avg rating — 2 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Living Twice it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by Shankari Chandran (?)

“The stories we tell each other, and the stories we tell ourselves. The stories we reveal, and those we hide. The stories we tell our children. These are the temples we build, they must not be erased.”
― Shankari Chandran, Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens

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“Every generation should have the chance to be better and freer than the one before it.”
― Shankari Chandran, Song of the Sun God

3 likes

“Violence should not be met with the silence of the oppressed.”
― Shankari Chandran, Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens

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