Arts
Leafing through youthful positivity
Imanthi Perera’s book “Ink Theory” a collection of prose and poetry is invitingly slim – just guaranteed for a relaxed afternoon of reading with a mug of hot tea or coffee. It doesn’t hurt that the bright pink and purple cover and dainty font match the equally positive bubbly writing of the writer herself.
A self-proclaimed “bundle of energy” Imanthi’s first plunge into the world of writing came with her first published piece in the school magazine at age 12. Then in her Grade 6 class at Ladies’ College her English teacher read out one of her stories to her classmates. “But I never thought I would be a writer,” she professes.
Active in her school’s debating and drama circles, the 29-year-old communications specialist could always be found after school perched in a tree with a book in hand. Her influences starting from childhood favourites Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl and Austen not only fed her imagination but also taught her to “think out of the box”.
Ink Theory started out being therapeutic rather than a serious book. It was in 2014 “after a bad scenario” she tells us that she started stringing random sentences and phrases, Microsoft Word becoming a diary of sorts. Soon the angry, hurt, thoughtful documents found a home in a desktop folder of their own, and in 2016 became a published book. The first few documents, still in its MS Word stage were sent to her best friend who had immediately told her “you need to publish this”.
But Imanthi wasn’t all too convinced. Inspired by Facebook poets such as Lang Leav, Imanthi would gradually brave social networks as a platform for her literary tidbits.
Ink Theory is strategically divided into six parts, each with its own theme, following the writer on a journey of recovery and empowerment. The very first poem “Letting Go” is one of the reasons she decided to publish her work. After sharing the two verse poem about moving on, Imanthi was taken by surprise by the shares and messages she received from strangers who were touched by her work. “This really changed the way I think,” says the bubbly writer, who is humbled and awed by the power of simple, heartfelt work.
With Ink Theory finding its place on bookshelves in Sri Lanka, she hopes to follow it with a novel this April. The book comes as a sincere offering from a young author whose work hopes to nourish the soul and celebrate life’s little, often overlooked victories. “You are amazing. You just don’t know it yet,” she adds, echoing her work.
Imanthi at the launch of the book in November.
Pix by Nilan Maligaspe
Ink Theory by Imanthi Perera is priced at Rs. 575