Shakthidharan among Windham-Campbell Prize 2026 winners
Sydney playwright S Shakthidharan has won a 2026 Windham-Campbell Prize, worth US$175,000 (A$249,000).
Shakthidharan was selected in the category of drama for his “ambition and scale, and his deep care and understanding of character, as demonstrated in his multigenerational epic Counting and Cracking”. The selection committee noted: “S Shakthidharan draws from Tamil-Sri Lankan, South Asian, and Australian pasts to forge new meanings and connections among sprawling and complex histories.”
The Windham-Campbell Prizes, administered by Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library and awarded by anonymous judges, recognize 8 writers each year for literary achievement across four categories – fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama. The prizes are open to writers in the English language from any part of the world and aim to support writers’ work and “allow them to focus on their creative practice independent of financial concerns”.
On receiving the prize, Shakthidharan said, “I am still in shock about this tremendous and utterly surprising news. To be recognised by a global award of this stature is incredibly affirming, and I suspect it will be life-changing.”
Born in Sri Lanka, Shakthidharan was raised in Sydney, where he currently lives. His previous honours include the Green Room Award for Outstanding New Australian Writing (2024), and the Victorian Prize for Literature (2020). His memoir, Gather Up Your World in One Long Breath, was published by Powerhouse in September 2025 and shortlisted for the 2026 Australian Book Industry Awards.
The full list of 2026 Windham-Campbell Prize winners is:
- Christina Anderson (United States) – drama
- Joyelle McSweeney (United States) – poetry
- Kei Miller (Jamaica) – nonfiction
- Gwendoline Riley (United Kingdom) – fiction
- Adam Ehrlich Sachs (United States) – fiction
- Lucy Sante (United States/Belgium) – nonfiction
- S Shakthidharan (Australia/Sri Lanka) – drama
- Karen Solie (Canada) – poetry.
Previous local writers awarded a Windham-Campbell Prize include Maria Tumarkin (nonfiction, 2020), Patricia Cornelius (drama, 2019), Ali Cobby Eckermann (poetry, 2017), Helen Garner (nonfiction, 2016), and Noëlle Janaczewska (drama, 2014).
More information is available on the Windham-Campbell Prizes website.
Category: Awards Local news
