♦ Sri Lankan writer Vajra Chandrasekera has won the 2025 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction for his second novel, Rakesfall.

♦ He will get a $25,000 (approximately Rs 22 lakh) award recognising “writers who imagine real grounds for hope.” 

♦ Established in 2022, the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction honours the legacy of the legendary author known for critiquing capitalism, patriarchy, and colonialism through fantasy and science fiction.

♦ Published by Tordotcom Publishing in 2024, Rakesfall was selected from among eight semi-finalist works.

♦ Chandrasekera’s novels move between myth, politics and philosophy.

♦ In them, the ghosts of empire share space with the mechanics of faith and the ruins of progress.