A day-long give and take session on writing and publishing
View(s):The outside was a bleak Saturday afternoon of incessant rain and the cold damp feeling accompanying it, but the cosy room of the Sri Lanka Federation of University Women was a constant stream of ideas and the invigorating conversations of the enthusiastic writers who had gathered for the annual seminar on creative writing organised by the English Writers’ Cooperative, held recently
The EWC’s Vijitha Fernando makes a point
Founded by Anne Ranasinghe, Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha and Maureen Seneviratne, the EWC offers aspiring writers a forum to further their creativity and penmanship while providing them with the support and assistance needed while they embark on their road to writing and publishing. The EWC opens its arms to the writer in everyone from enthusiasts both young and old, to amateur first timers and published writers.
The day-long session saw writers and university academics sharing their stories and advice on aspects of writing and publishing, along the genres of short story writing and poetry while a panel of experienced authors conducted an interactive session with the
Prof. Neluka Silva outlines the short story
audience.
Prof. Neluka Silva opened the morning session with a discussion on short story writing. An author herself, Prof. Silva touched on the topic of tackling the unassumingly difficult task of short story writing with added input from the participants themselves. Other speakers included well-known Sri Lankan poet Ramya Chamalie Jirasinghe whose activity-filled session triggered many an inner poet among the audience members.
Writers M.T.L. Ebell, Sakuntala Sachithanandan and Mariam Riza fielded the question and answer segment, delving into their own personal experiences of writing and their journeys on the road to becoming authors while the rest of the afternoon was devoted to the subjects of publishing and starting up as a writer.