[3][4][5] In 1990, she married economist Stephen Lissenburgh (1964-2004), who "made large contributions to British public policy research".
There, she stayed beneath the covers of her cousin’s bed, hoarding sleeping pills for comfort and solace; she attempted to stab herself with a butter knife and smashed her head on the sharp corner of the wooden headboard of the bed in reaction to the trauma of the tsunami.
[19] After surviving the tsunami, Deraniyagala relocated to New York where she became a visiting research scholar at Columbia University.
[20][21] Sonali began writing her memoir Wave in 2010, where she describes her personal experiences in the aftermath of the tsunami and how she coped with it.
It was shortlisted for the 2013 National Book Critics Circle Award (Autobiography)[23][24] and won the PEN Ackerley Prize 2013.