About the Book

In recent years, Canadian publishers have made an admirable push for more diversity in their catalog. Yet there are some important immigrant stories that have not yet been properly explored — including the Tamil experience in Canada. In Prisoner #1056: A Survivor’s Story, Toronto-based financial executive Roy Ratnavel — a survivor of war, and as someone who experienced real racism and oppression firsthand — will tell that story through the narrative arc of his own life story. While this is in some ways a traditional tale of an impoverished newcomer pursuing his dreams, Roy is no ordinary protagonist. And his book will surprise readers by rejecting many of the clichés associated with this genre. 

This book will speak not only to the immigrant experience, but the trials and tribulations of the 83 million strong global Tamil community. It will give voice to a generation of immigrants who are coming of age now in Canada and other Western nations, and tell the untold story of them and/or their parents leaving Sri Lanka and their experiences prior to arriving on friendly shores in order to build a better future. This book also has the potential to mold a new generation of Tamil Diaspora youngsters around the globe who are longing to connect with the lived experiences of their parents and relatives. This has to do with inter-generational trauma. 

The book will also attempt to reach a wider audience beyond just Tamils. Roy will weave the chapters together and thread them to appeal to a wider audience, those who have experienced genocide and ethnic cleansing, beyond the Tamil community. In part, Prisoner #1056 is a conventional memoir, artfully informed by historical material. But its middle chapters will also tap into the business-book genre, as Roy explores the real challenges — and, sometimes, advantages associated with being a visible immigrant in a white-collar professional environment that was (and, in some areas, remains) the domain of middle-aged white men. Prisoner #1056 is also a political book. But it is no manifesto. The book’s message, while heterodox by the standards of today’s discourse, is delivered in a way that the entire audience, regardless of political allegiances, will find attractive and thought-provoking.