Former Lake House journalist Shelton A. Gunaratne, who got his PhD from University of Minnesota in 1972, has published a 1,000-page autobiographical trilogy, which he completed after he retired in 2007 from Minnesota State University Moorhead, where he was a professor of mass communications since 1985. The trilogy, released by iUniverse and Xlibris arms of [...]

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Autobiography dramatises life journey and travel adventures of a Murphy Hall graduate

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Former Lake House journalist Shelton A. Gunaratne, who got his PhD from University of Minnesota in 1972, has published a 1,000-page autobiographical trilogy, which he completed after he retired in 2007 from Minnesota State University Moorhead, where he was a professor of mass communications since 1985.

The trilogy, released by iUniverse and Xlibris arms of Author Solutions Inc. in Bloomington, Indiana., looks at three different dimensions of Gunaratne’s life. The first titled Village Life in the Forties: Memories of a Lankan Expatriate [ISBN 978-1-4759-3956-9 (sc)], released by iUniverse, contains 28 village sketches unravelling the famous and the infamous characters of the author’s birth village in colonial Ceylon. The author uses his unique literary style to present an authentic picture of the rural setting that moulded his personality and attempts to extract humour out of ordinary rustic life in many of these sketches.

The iUniverse editors conferred on this book an Editor’s Choice award. The second titled From Village Boy to Global Citizen (Volume 1): The Journey of a Journalist [ISBN 978-1-4771-4240-0 (sc), released by Xlibris], highlights the author’s life after he left the village as a teenager and ultimately settled down in America.
The third of the trilogy titled From Village Boy to Global Citizen (Volume 2): The Travels of a Journalist [ISBN 978-1-4771-4238-7 (soft cover), also released by Xlibris] dramatizes the travel adventures of the author’s family. Since he first crisscrossed the oceans in 1966, his travel lust (tanha) has taken him to more than 50 countries and all 50 states in the United States. This volume presents the most memorable visits he has on record from the viewpoint of a journalist

The author quit his job as a Lake House journalist because he was intent on doing a doctorate in mass communication. He reached another milestone in his life at the age of 32, when the University of Minnesota awarded him a PhD, the first doctorate in journalism and mass communication awarded by any university to a native of Sri Lanka (Ceylon).

Thus, in 1972 Gunaratne transitioned from a professional journalist to a journalism professor. He taught at tertiary level in Australia, China, Malaysia and the United States. He gained a reputation for his scholarship in global journalism and international communication. The trilogy is available through amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com or directly from iUniverse or Xlibris.




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