Yudhanjaya Wijeratne

Wijeratne grew up wanting to be an astronaut, but instead decided the odds were against him. Discovering Stephen King's The Dark Tower led to him being inspired to sit down and write The Waste, which he describes as "a 130,000 word monster set in a half-magic half-tech world .. . it was horrible: I have the manuscript on my desk and the cat sleeps on it sometimes."{{Cite web|url=http://www.lankacomiccon.lk/blog/2017/7/26/the-sri-lankan-scifi-novel-numbercaste-just-dropped-and-its-hot|title=The Sri Lankan Sci-fi Novel "Numbercaste" just dropped, and it's hot|website=Lanka Comic Con|access-date=2019-01-24}}

Largely self-taught, he picked up programming after school and went through a stint in game development, working on a project set in a distant future.{{Cite web|url=http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2017/04/30/icarus-weeps-no-more/|title=Icarus Weeps No More {{!}} The Sunday Leader|access-date=2019-01-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170430144214/http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2017/04/30/icarus-weeps-no-more/|archive-date=2017-04-30|url-status=live}} That failed, and eventually led to Wijeratne becoming a tech journalist and founding editor of Readme.lk, a Sri Lankan tech news website.{{Cite web|url=https://www.readme.lk/tedxcolombo-2018-is-happening/|title=TEDxColombo 2018: You really should grab your tickets now|date=2018-10-11|website=README|access-date=2019-01-24}}

In 2015 he joined WSO2, a middleware corporation headquartered in Colombo, and began working on his debut novel, Numbercaste.{{Cite web|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/yudhanjaya-wijeratne-on-books-and-writing_us_5963a52de4b08f5c97d06b99|title=Yudhanjaya Wijeratne On Books And Writing|last=Dibbert|first=Taylor|date=2017-07-10|website=Huffington Post|access-date=2019-01-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190206073933/https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/yudhanjaya-wijeratne-on-books-and-writing_us_5963a52de4b08f5c97d06b99|archive-date=2019-02-06|url-status=live}} During this period, he was perhaps best known in Sri Lanka for the blog he maintained, Icaruswept, which was noted by science writer Nalaka Gunawardene for its data-savvy analyses.{{Cite web|url=https://nalakagunawardene.com/2016/09/23/op-ed-investigative-journalists-uncover-asia-one-story-at-a-time/|title=[Op-ed] Investigative Journalists uncover Asia, one story at a time|date=2016-09-23|website=Open Minds! (formerly: Moving Images blog)|access-date=2019-01-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161222071301/https://nalakagunawardene.com/2016/09/23/op-ed-investigative-journalists-uncover-asia-one-story-at-a-time/|archive-date=2016-12-22|url-status=live}} Icaruswept garnered a reputation for analyses around social media influence on the Sri Lankan 2015 general election,{{Cite web|title=Social Media and General Elecations 2015|url=http://www.dailymirror.lk/article/social-media-and-general-elecations-2015-85811.html?fbrefresh=1548313920|access-date=2019-01-24|website=www.dailymirror.lk}} reporting on the Colombo International Financial City and coverage of the 2017 Sri Lanka floods. While the blog now appears to be defunct, key posts remain mirrored on other publications.{{Cite web|date=2015-03-30|title=This Is The Colombo Port City?|url=https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/this-is-the-colombo-port-city/|access-date=2019-01-24|website=Colombo Telegraph}}{{Cite web|title=Sri Lanka Floods Update (May 23rd)|url=https://www.yamu.lk/blog/sri-lanka-floods-update-may-23|access-date=2019-01-24|website=YAMU}}

Wijeratne also worked on the WSO2 Election Monitor, which generated attention and sentiment analysis around the election contests.{{Cite web|last=Wijeratne|first=Yudhanjaya|title=Big Data and Politics: How the Internet sees the US Election|url=https://wso2.com/blogs/thesource/2016/03/big-data-and-politics-how-the-internet-sees-the-us-election/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170911014801/http://wso2.com/blogs/thesource/2016/03/big-data-and-politics-how-the-internet-sees-the-us-election/|archive-date=2017-09-11|access-date=2019-01-24|website=wso2.com}} In an (apparent) parody piece for April Fool's Day, he used observations from the project's actual data to suggest Donald Trump's victory in the 2016 United States presidential election.{{Cite web|last=Wijeratne|first=Yudhanjaya|title=Deep Huge: AI Predicts Donald Trump Becoming the Next President|url=https://wso2.com/blogs/thesource/2016/04/deep-huge-ai-predicts-donald-trump-becoming-the-next-president/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171110102204/http://wso2.com/blogs/thesource/2016/04/deep-huge-ai-predicts-donald-trump-becoming-the-next-president/|archive-date=2017-11-10|access-date=2019-01-24|website=wso2.com}}

Wijeratne's first publication was the self-published The Slow Sad Suicide of Rohan Wijeratne, which follows a suicidal, near-immortal alcoholic who signs up to be shot into a ring singularity. Reviews compared it favourably to the work of both Clarke and Douglas Adams.{{Cite web|url=https://www.goodreads.com/work/best_book/56088035-the-slow-sad-suicide-of-rohan-wijeratne|title=The Slow Sad Suicide of Rohan Wijeratne|website=www.goodreads.com|access-date=2019-01-24}} Wijeratne followed with his first novel, Numbercaste, deemed a "staggeringly ambitious debut"{{Cite web|title=Showing the world we too can write science fiction|url=http://www.sundaytimes.lk/170820/plus/showing-the-world-we-too-can-write-science-fiction-255140.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180108213800/http://www.sundaytimes.lk/170820/plus/showing-the-world-we-too-can-write-science-fiction-255140.html|archive-date=2018-01-08|access-date=2019-01-24|website=The Sunday Times Sri Lanka}} that garnered critical acclaim in South Asia{{Cite web|date=2017-12-30|title=Efflorescence of South Asian Sci Fi?|url=https://www.thedailystar.net/book-reviews/efflorescence-south-asian-sci-fi-1512136|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180309222148/http://www.thedailystar.net/book-reviews/efflorescence-south-asian-sci-fi-1512136|archive-date=2018-03-09|access-date=2019-01-24|website=The Daily Star}}{{Cite web|date=2018-05-05|title=Love the journey. Live for it: Yudhanjaya Wijeratne|url=https://factordaily.com/yudhanjaya-wijeratne/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180613002627/https://factordaily.com/yudhanjaya-wijeratne/|archive-date=2018-06-13|access-date=2019-01-24|website=FactorDaily}} for its blend of emerging technology and socio-political critique. It led to Wijeratne being lauded by Groundviews as the "first serious voice" in science fiction from Sri Lanka since Arthur C. Clarke,{{Cite web|title=Some thoughts on 'Numbercaste' by Yudhanjaya Wijeratne {{!}} Facebook|url=https://www.facebook.com/notes/groundviews/some-thoughts-on-numbercaste-by-yudhanjaya-wijeratne/10159151994820641/|access-date=2019-01-24|website=www.facebook.com}} and is classified as Econ-SF by the Edgeryders research network.

In 2018, Wijeratne was the recipient of a four-book deal by HarperCollins,{{Cite web|title=HarperCollins India acquires Sri Lankan author Yudhanjaya Wijeratne's The Commonwealth Empire Trilogy. {{!}} Facebook|url=https://www.facebook.com/notes/harpercollins-india/harpercollins-india-acquires-sri-lankan-author-yudhanjaya-wijeratnes-the-commonw/1702101443168863/|access-date=2019-01-24|website=www.facebook.com}} noted by the Sunday Times as the largest deal, in terms of books, ever offered to a Sri Lankan author;{{Cite web|title=Post Numbercaste, Yudhanjaya dreams up more worlds|url=http://www.sundaytimes.lk/180617/magazine/post-numbercaste-yudhanjaya-dreams-up-more-worlds-297949.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180621001635/http://www.sundaytimes.lk/180617/magazine/post-numbercaste-yudhanjaya-dreams-up-more-worlds-297949.html|archive-date=2018-06-21|access-date=2019-01-24|website=The Sunday Times Sri Lanka}} Numbercaste was among those four books, and saw its film options acquired by Endemol Shine.{{Cite news|last=Laghate|first=Gaurav|title=Endemol Shine India acquires rights of Richa Mukherjee's 'Kanpur Khoofiya'|work=The Economic Times|url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/endemol-shine-india-acquires-rights-of-richa-mukherjees-crime-fiction-novel/articleshow/71598194.cms?from=mdr|access-date=2021-02-03}} Wijeratne subsequently self-published Omega Point, a short story invoking French philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's hypothesis of God and marrying it to the Kardashev scale.

His second novel, The Inhuman Race {{Cite web|date=2018-12-15|title=This sci-fi author built a world in which you rate your neighbour|url=https://www.gqindia.com/content/sci-fi-author-build-world-rate-neighbour/|access-date=2019-01-24|website=GQ India}} an alternate history narrative set in Sri Lanka, and explores AI, sentience and AI rights in a futuristic world where the British Commonwealth still dominates the Indian subcontinent. It has been noted for subverting philosopher John Searle's Chinese room thought experiment and cementing Wijeratne's "status as one of the subcontinent’s science fiction stars".{{Cite web|date=2019-01-05|title=Being Inhuman: Emotion, ethics, adventure and artificial intelligence intersect in Yudhanjaya Wijeratne's latest novel|url=https://factordaily.com/being-inhuman-yudhanjaya-wijeratne-novel/|access-date=2019-01-24|website=FactorDaily}}

Since then, he has published in a number of anthologies. Messenger, co-authored with American urban fantasy author R.R. Virdi, was listed in the Critters Annual Reader Poll as one of the top ten science fiction stories of 2018{{Cite web|url=http://www.critique.org/predpoll/final_tally_shortstorysf.ht|title=Critters Writers Workshop Readers Poll|website=www.critique.org|access-date=2019-01-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150916205811/http://www.critique.org/predpoll/final_tally_shortstorysf.ht|archive-date=2015-09-16|url-status=live}} and was a finalist for the 2018 Nebula Awards.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/20/18233148/2019-nebula-awards-nominations-best-science-fiction-fantasy-books-movies-read-online|title=Here are the 2019 Nebula Award nominations|last=Liptak|first=Andrew|date=2019-02-20|website=The Verge|access-date=2019-02-24}} Alongside J.T. Lawrence, Jason Werbeloff and Colby Rice, Wijeratne also launched 2054,{{Cite web|url=http://project2054.com/|title=Four authors. One future.|website=project2054.com|access-date=2019-01-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180627041420/http://www.project2054.com/|archive-date=2018-06-27|url-status=live}} a shared-world cyberpunk anthology foreworded by physicist, poet and Future Chronicles editor Samuel Peralta.{{Cite web|url=https://www.future-chronicles.net/|title=Samuel Peralta|website=Samuel Peralta|access-date=2019-01-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181121161836/https://www.future-chronicles.net/|archive-date=2018-11-21|url-status=live}} Wijeratne has one known comics project, a 4-page short titled Genesis.{{Cite web|title=Behance|url=https://www.behance.net/gallery/66535333/Genesis|access-date=2019-01-24|website=www.behance.net}}

In 2020, Slate.com published The State Machine{{Cite web|last=Wijeratne|first=Yudhanjaya|date=2020-09-26|title=Read a New Short Story About a Government Run Entirely by Machines|url=https://slate.com/technology/2020/09/state-machine-yudhanjaya-wijeratne.html|access-date=2021-02-03|website=Slate Magazine|language=en}} under its Future Tense program, and Wired published Work Ethics.{{Cite magazine|title=The Future of Work: 'Work Ethics,' by Yudhanjaya Wijeratne|language=en-us|magazine=Wired|url=https://www.wired.com/story/future-of-work-work-ethics-yudhanjaya-wijeratne/|access-date=2021-02-03|issn=1059-1028}} Both stories explore themes of human-AI collaboration; one from the perspective of governance and the other examining the future of work. Both betray a fascination, and support for a collaborative future, something Wijeratne references in interviews and blogposts. Subsequent tinkerings with OpenAI GPT-2 led him to explore generated poetry{{Cite web|last=Wijeratne|first=Yudhanjaya|date=2019-04-17|title=The Poetry Machine|url=https://towardsdatascience.com/the-poetry-machine-2764ec8b340b|access-date=2021-02-03|website=Medium|language=en}} and attempt to create a novel by co-writing with procedural generation tools that he had written and with GPT-2.{{Cite web|title=Adventures in machine-generated text: short-burst creativity, and why classical CS has it wrong – The Ricepunk Diaries|url=https://yudhanjaya.com/2020/05/machine-generated-text-creativity-and-why-classical-cs-has-it-wrong/|access-date=2021-02-03|language=en-US}} The result was Wijeratne's The Salvage Crew, published in 2020. Narrated by Nathan Fillion;{{Cite web|last=Bennett|first=Tara|date=2020-10-07|title=Firefly's Nathan Fillion aims to misbehave in space again as AI narrator of 'The Salvage Crew'|url=https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/nathan-fillion-narrates-the-sci-fi-novel-the-salvage-crew|access-date=2021-02-02|website=SYFY WIRE|language=en}} it became a bestseller on Audible{{Cite web|date=2020-10-30|title=Yudhanjaya Wijeratne's 'The Salvage Crew' narrated by Nathan Fillion|url=http://www.themorning.lk/yudhanjaya-wijeratnes-the-salvage-crew-narrated-by-nathan-fillion/|access-date=2021-02-02|website=The Morning - Sri Lanka News|language=en-US}} and was selected by Polygon as one of the best science fiction and fantasy books of 2020.

Wijeratne then joined LIRNEasia as a researcher, where his work involved the analysis of communities on social media,{{Cite journal|last1=Samarajiva|first1=Rohan|last2=Lokanathan|first2=Sriganesh|last3=Wijeratne|first3=Yudhanjaya|date=2018-03-14|title=Countries of a Feather: Analyzing Homophily and Connectivity Between Nations Through Facebook Data|location=Rochester, NY|ssrn=3140408}} misinformation and hate speech{{Cite news|last=Safi|first=Libby Hogan Michael|date=2018-04-03|title=Revealed: Facebook hate speech exploded in Myanmar during Rohingya crisis|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/03/revealed-facebook-hate-speech-exploded-in-myanmar-during-rohingya-crisis|url-status=live|access-date=2019-02-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190206072627/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/03/revealed-facebook-hate-speech-exploded-in-myanmar-during-rohingya-crisis|archive-date=2019-02-06|issn=0261-3077}}{{Cite web|last=Bengali|first=Shashank|title=Muslims faced hatred and violence in Sri Lanka. Then Facebook came along and made things worse|url=https://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-srilanka-facebook-20180329-story.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190113200957/https://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-srilanka-facebook-20180329-story.html|archive-date=2019-01-13|access-date=2019-01-24|website=Los Angeles Times|date=29 March 2018 }} and bot networks.{{Cite web|date=2018-01-24|title=Namal Rajapaksa, bots and trolls: New contours of digital propaganda and online discourse in Sri Lanka|url=https://groundviews.org/2018/01/24/namal-rajapaksa-bots-and-trolls-new-contours-of-digital-propaganda-and-online-discourse-in-sri-lanka/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180616005246/https://groundviews.org/2018/01/24/namal-rajapaksa-bots-and-trolls-new-contours-of-digital-propaganda-and-online-discourse-in-sri-lanka/|archive-date=2018-06-16|access-date=2019-01-24|website=Groundviews.org}}{{Cite web|title=Weaponising 280 characters: What 200,000 tweets and 4,000 bots tell us about state of Twitter in Sri Lanka|url=https://groundviews.org/2018/04/23/weaponising-280-characters-what-200000-tweets-and-4000-bots-tell-us-about-state-of-twitter-in-sri-lanka/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180723180136/https://groundviews.org/2018/04/23/weaponising-280-characters-what-200000-tweets-and-4000-bots-tell-us-about-state-of-twitter-in-sri-lanka/|archive-date=2018-07-23|access-date=2019-01-24|website=Groundviews|date=23 April 2018 }} He has since discussed the moderation of terrorist and violent content online at the Internet Governance Forum{{Cite web|last=malia.graves_6743|date=2019-11-27|title=IGF 2019 – Day 2 – Convention Hall II – Addressing Terrorist And Violent Extremist Content Online|url=https://www.intgovforum.org/multilingual/content/igf-2019-%E2%80%93-day-2-%E2%80%93-convention-hall-ii-%E2%80%93-addressing-terrorist-and-violent-extremist-content|access-date=2021-02-03|website=Internet Governance Forum|language=en}} and avenues such as ForeignPolicy.{{Cite web|last=Wijeratne|first=Yudhanjaya|title=Big Tech Is as Monolingual as Americans|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/05/07/big-tech-is-as-monolingual-as-americans/|access-date=2021-05-21|website=Foreign Policy|language=en-US}} Much of his activism in this field consists of pushing social media platforms to acknowledge the computational and human process limitations of content moderation in low-resource languages, and in pushing Facebook et al. to share data and work with local researchers.{{Cite web|title=The US's online language gaps are an urgent problem for Asian-Americans|url=https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/05/04/1024507/asian-american-language-justice-online-hmong/|access-date=2021-05-21|website=MIT Technology Review|language=en}}{{Cite web|date=2020-07-23|title=Facebook, language and the difficulty of moderating hate speech|url=https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/medialse/2020/07/23/facebook-language-and-the-difficulty-of-moderating-hate-speech/|access-date=2021-02-02|website=Media@LSE}}

In 2018, Wijeratne gave a TEDx talk, outlining his roots as a blogger and his philosophy of avoiding homophily and groupthink wherever possible.{{Citation|last=TEDx Talks|title=How Our Friendships Define Us - And Why They're Dangerous {{!}} Yudhanjaya Wijeratne {{!}} TEDxColombo|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkBclASYLGU&feature=youtu.be|access-date=2019-01-24}} In 2019, Wijeratne co-founded Watchdog, a fact-checker. In sessions hosted by NATO Stratcom COE, Wijeratne outlined its growth and operation.{{Citation|title=Yudhanjaya Wijeratne. Fighting disinformation in Sri Lanka.|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1kd05_m1sU|language=en|access-date=2021-05-21}}

In 2020, Wijeratne contributed to the Goethe-Institut's Day-Afterthoughts project,{{Cite web|title=Day-Afterthoughts|url=https://www.goethe.de/en/kul/ges/eu2/pco.html|access-date=2021-05-21|website=www.goethe.de|language=en}} which curated responses to COVID-19 times from artists and intellectuals around the world.

Wijeratne was nominated for the 2018 Nebula Award for Best Novelette.{{Cite web|url=https://nebulas.sfwa.org/2018-nebula-finalists-announced/|title=2018 Nebula Finalists Announced|last1=copyrighted|first1=The material on this website is|last2=SFWA®|first2=may not be used without the author's consent|date=2019-02-20|website=The Nebula Awards|language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-04|last3=Fiction|first3=Nebula Awards® are registered trademarks of Science|last4=America|first4=Fantasy Writers of|last5=SFWA|first5=Inc Opinions expressed on this web site are not necessarily those of}}

He was selected by Forbes as one of 2021's 30 under 30 Asia.{{Cite web|title=Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2021|url=https://www.forbes.com/30-under-30/2021/asia/|access-date=2021-05-21|website=Forbes|language=en}}

He was the joint winner of the 2022 Gratiaen Prize, with Chiranthi Rajapakse, for his unpublished manuscript The Wretched and the Damned. {{Cite web |title=Dual winners for Gratiaen prize 2023 - Life Online |url=https://www.life.lk/article/latest_stories/Dual-winners-for-Gratiaen-prize-2023/1/20538 |access-date=2023-06-20 |website=www.life.lk |language=English}}

Wijeratne's website lists a wide range of possible influences, from novelists (such as Terry Pratchett, William Gibson, Diana Wynne Jones and others) to anime (such as Ghost in the Shell and Fullmetal Alchemist) to games (such as BioShock, Deus Ex, Halo and Final Fantasy VII).{{Cite web|url=http://yudhanjaya.com/press/|title=About me / Press|website=yudhanjaya|access-date=2019-01-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180824070728/http://yudhanjaya.com/press/|archive-date=2018-08-24|url-status=live}} Elsewhere, he has spoken about being influenced by Stephen King, Dan Simmons, Peter Watts, Warhammer 40,000, Margaret Atwood and Ursula Le Guin.

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Category:1992 births

Category:Living people

Category:Sri Lankan male writers

Category:21st-century Sri Lankan writers

Category:Science fiction writers