Randy Boyagoda is a writer, critic and scholar, and the author of a scholarly monograph on immigration and American identity in the fiction of Salman Rushdie, Ralph Ellison, and William Faulkner. He also contributes reviews and commentary to a variety of publications, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, National Post, Globe and Mail, and Financial Times (UK). In addition to his 2008 monograph, he has written two novels. The first, Governor of the Northern Province, was a 2006 nominee for the ScotiaBank Giller Prize. His second novel, Beggar’s Feast, was a 2012 nominee for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Prize and a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice. His research interests include 20C American literature and culture; religion and American public life; immigration and American identity; globalization theory; secularization theory; Sri Lankan history, literature, and culture.