Arts
Grace presents her ‘accident baby’ on a Sunday afternoon
Grace at the launch and below a section of the audience. Pix by Dilantha Dissanayake
“Thank you so much for coming. I know it’s a Sunday and most of you are missing your naps – even I’m missing my nap, but here we are – we managed to get here without sleeping. We can do this guys,” said Grace Wickremasinghe at the launch of her second book, Closure.
Grace, who was shortlisted for the 2015 Gratiaen Prize just a few months earlier, decided to launch the selection of poetry nominated for this prestigious award on her 21st birthday, which fell on Sunday, July 31. The book was launched at the Sports Ministry auditorium in the presence of many friends and family.
Grace explained the fascinating story behind the book at the launch. “If my first book ‘Perception’ was my planned first child, Closure was the ‘accident baby,’” she said. Perception was written in 2014, following the completion of her Advanced Level Examination and the stressful experience of writing the book was enough to put her off writing another book for some time. However, fate intervened and in 2015, at the request of her parents and well-wishers, Grace compiled a list of poetry which she had previously posted on her Facebook wall and submitted it for the Gratiaen prize. When she decided to apply, she had only 24 hours to compile and submit her poems. Even after ‘Closure’ was shortlisted for the Gratiaen Prize, she still decided to postpone her book launch till the following year.
Focusing on lost love, family issues and body image – this young poet feels that the poetry in Closure is a feminist approach to modern-day Sri Lankan society. Chief Guest at the event, Justice W.P.G. Dep, PC stated that Closure deals with sensitive issues in a personal manner. Grace has taken part in many poetry slam readings in Colombo and performed some of her work with the help of her friends at the launch.
The first poem she and her friends performed was ‘boyfriend’. With her friends acting as different people easily found in Sri Lankan society – from the Sri Lankan aunties to the well-meaning but misguided friends – Grace read out her responses to their different queries about her relationship status. She also performed two poems with her friend Dominique accompanying her on guitar – ‘Remember the warrior’ and ‘Toxic’ – the former being dedicated to cancer survivors in the Maharagama hospital and the latter being written about an abusive relationship. Grace also did solo performances of ‘My body’, which deals with beauty standards and ‘An open letter to anxiety’ which describes the crippling condition of anxiety. Her final performance, ‘Things to tell your daughter’, was about gender stereotypes.
Well known writer Ashok Ferrey gave a short speech on the difficulties of being a poet. “As a prose writer, I know that poetry is incredibly difficult because words need to be used as a hook and bait,” he said. One of the job hazards of being a writer is the fact that people feel that the writer has experienced everything which they write about. He assured the audience that Grace has never been abused by her parents or elders and has never been locked up in a dog kennel or faced any of the horrendous things that she sometimes mentions in her poetry. “But the fact that you would even think that shows us how she has succeeded as a poet because she has been able to get into the minds of her subject,” Ferrey added.
‘Closure’ is priced at Rs. 500. Part of the proceeds will be donated to improve the standards of education at the YMBA run Kirindiwela orphanage.