Sunday Times 2
Reconciliation to inspire creativity
View(s):With about 2 ½ weeks left before its application deadline of April 29, Write to Reconcile, a free creative writing programme focused on reconciliation in Sri Lanka, is already receiving many submissions from those interested in participating. The organisers urge emerging and new writers and poets from Sri Lanka and the Diaspora to send in their entries soon.
The first 12 successful applicants who apply before April 24 will receive free signed copies of Shyam Selvadurai’s Many Roads Through Paradise: An Anthology of Sri Lankan Literature.The Project is open to anyone between the ages of 18-29, as well as Sri Lankan teachers and professors of any age.
Write to Reconcile the brainchild of the celebrated Sri Lankan author Shyam Selvadurai and is now in its third year.Selvadurai is an experienced teacher of Creative Writing and has taught in such universities as the University of Toronto, the University of Guelph and York University. “The craft of creative writing is not taught in Sri Lanka,” Selvadurai said, “so Write to Reconcile is a unique opportunity for people interested in being writers to learn their craft.”The award-wining writer, Nayomi Munaweera, joins Selvadurai as part of the creative team.
The selected 25 participants will have the opportunity to work closely with both Shyam and Nayomi who, together will conduct a week-long residential workshop in Anuradhapura. All the expenses of the selected participants will be met by Write to Reconcile. During the workshop, participants will be taught all they need to know about the craft of creative writing. Participants will make two field trips into the Vanni and the border villages to meet with villagers from these areas, sit in their homes and find out first- hand their experience of the war and about their lives post-war. The hope is that these visits will inspire some wonderful creative work.
Participants will edit one of their pieces with Shyam for publication in the Write to Reconcile Anthology 3,which will be published and distributed free islandwide in March 2017 (to read the previous 2 anthologies go to www.writetoreconcile.com).
The Project is funded by the American Centre and takes place under the auspices of the National Peace Council. For more information and to download an application go to www.writetoreconcile.com