Suresh Ariaratnam

Suresh Ariaratnam is the founder of Sprung Sultan, a literary and talent agency representing authors from Black and Asian communities predominantly, including the TS Eliot Prize recipient Roger Robinson, the Ted Hughes Award recipient Jay Bernard, and the PEN Pinter Prize recipient Linton Kwesi Johnson.

In 2022, he was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature for making a significant contribution to the advancement of literature.

An advisory council member of the British Library, and a trustee for Bath Festivals, Theatre Royal Bath, and Literature Works South West, he specialises in assisting organisations broaden understanding of who their stakeholders are and how best to meet their needs.

He has a longstanding interest in health and healthcare, particularly around preventative and proactive modalities. As a non-executive director at NHS Somerset Integrated Care Board, he chairs the Primary Care Commissioning Committee and is also the health lead for the Somerset Food Resilience Group.

His primary driver across channels is to address the structural and social determinants which give rise to inequality and create negative outcomes for people from marginalised communities.

Image credit: Joe Short