He was born in Pannala, Sri-Lanka, and was raised in Matara, Sri Lanka.
He was the son of Mabel Alice Goonewardene and James Robert Shedden, a police inspector serving in the remote town of Pannala, Sri-Lanka.
James' first novel A Quiet Place was published in 1968, followed by Call of the Kirala in 1971.
His work suffered some heavy criticism because English was becoming marginalized in the nationalistic passion in Sri-Lanka during the 1960s and the 1971 JVP Insurrection.
[2] He was the first Sri-Lankan author to have a novel published by Penguin India and has received retroactive acclaim.