Maduranga Kalugampitiya is a Senior Lecturer in English, attached to the University of Peradeniya. He is currently serving as the Head of the Department of English at Peradeniya. He obtained his BA in English from Peradeniya and his MA in Linguistics and PhD in Interdisciplinary Arts from Ohio University, USA. While his MA research engaged with the concept of the native speaker from a critical point of view, his PhD research explored the ways in which the contemporary reimaginings of the Sanskrit epic the Mahabharata broadened the existing discourse on the epic. His areas of interest include the philosophy of language, politics of language, the role of mythology in nation building, and the place of the humanities in the broader academia. He served as a member of the jury for Gratiaen Prize 2021, and he is currently a member of the Gratiaen Trust.