Fairway Lit Awards draws good response; magic realism and fantasy reality winners of the day
By Purnima Pilapitiya 2016’s edition of the Fairway National Literary Awards garnered a massive response from the literary community with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Dr. Maithree Wickramasinghe gracing the awards ceremony on Friday, January 13, in Galle. The literary award boasted a record of over 130 submissions. “The Fairway Awards was created as a companion [...]
‘The funny people of Sri Lanka’ wins first Edward Lear Prize for poetry
By Kaveesha Fernando The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea In a beautiful pea green boat They took some honey, and plenty of money Wrapped up in a five-pound note.’ These are the opening lines of Edward Lear’s most famous poem, ‘The Owl and the Pussycat’. Edward Lear was an English artist, illustrator, musician, [...]
Extracts from the entries of the five finalists
Given below are extracts from the poems and a short biography of the writers in order of recitation. ‘Red Shoes’ by Sarah Jauffer: ‘I swam in the rain with my red, red shoes – Soaked to the brim with earth that was loose -Down on my knees – I fell, and the Trees; and the [...]
The teenage writings of Jane Austen
By Fiona Macdonald “Jane Austen’s earliest writings appear to have little in common with the restrained and realistic society portrayed in her adult novels,” writes Kathryn Sutherland, a professor of English at the University of Oxford. “By contrast, they are exuberantly expressionistic tales of sexual misdemeanour, of female drunkenness and violence.” A different side to [...]
Hoping for the best against Trump
By Ian Buruma NEW YORK – Is there any reason for liberals to feel optimistic after a year of political disasters? Is there even a shred of silver lining to be found in the tatters of Brexit, Donald Trump’s election, and European disunity? Christians believe that despair is a mortal sin, so one might as [...]
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I remember the famous journalist Tarzie Vittachi, when he was editor of the Ceylon Observer, repeatedly cautioning us young journalists “Check the facts that you feel surest of.’ It was his way of making sure that what we published was factually accurate – because he wanted to make sure that when people would say “I [...]
Theravada Buddhism is a cultural heritage of Sri Lanka
By Tassie Seneviratne President’s Counsel Manohara de Silva’s (M.deS) book on Amendments to the Constitution was launched recently at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute attended by a mammoth crowd including myself. The issues raised by him are very pertinent and I am with him all the way. He signals an ominous trend that is taking [...]
Dilemmas of a coalition government, two years later
By Dr. Ram Manikkalingam The National Unity Government with Maithripala Sirisena as President and Ranil Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister has lasted for two years. How much longer will it last, given the policy, political and personal dilemmas that bedevil it? The coalition that governs Sri Lanka came together to defeat Mahinda Rajapaksa. And it has [...]