Arts
Khadeejah wins Edward Lear Prize for Poetry
Khadeejah Sabry Samsudeen won the Edward Lear Prize for Poetry, the awards ceremony being held at the scenic Owl and the Pussycat Hotel, Thalpe as part of the Fairway Galle Literary Festival 2018 on January 26.
Khadeejah receiving her award from Reita Gadikari. Pic by M.A. Pushpa Kumara
“I didn’t expect it actually,” said Khadeejah of her win, commenting that she thought it was amazing that she was placed in the finals. Khadeejah, who has just completed her Advanced Level examination at Ilma International Girls School last year, looks forward to studying graphic design in the future and hopes to publish more poetry soon.
The Edward Lear Prize for Poetry competition invites writers aged 18-30 to submit their entries in poetry inspired by Edward Lear. The prize is organised by the owners of a luxury resort inspired by and named after Edward Lear’s iconic poem ‘The Owl and the Pussycat’.
Co-founder of the award Shane Thantrimudalige expressed his happiness in seeing the competition flourish and said he hoped the award would progress further. “I hope that this award would continue for many years to come,” he said. Shane founded the prize with co-owner of the Owl and the Pussycat hotel Reita Gadikari.
The competition calls for submissions months ahead of the final and the top five poems were shortlisted by the judges. This year’s finalists were Shanika Ratnayake, Ayesha Ratnayake, Sakuni Cooray, Khadeejah Sabry Samsudeen and Shaahima Raashid. Khadeejah was placed first for her poem ‘The Little Giant’, while Shaahima and Sakuni were placed second and third respectively.
The finalists got the chance to read out their poems for the audience before the results were announced, the poems all with a touch of whimsical and imaginative happenings, much like the poems of Edward Lear with Sakuni’s ‘The Sri Lankan Owl and the Pussycat’ drawing interest, for its tweaking of Edward Lear’s iconic poem to convey a Sri Lankan love story.
The judges for the award were Aftab Jafferjee, Jane Kramer, Dilhani Thantirimudalige, Gehan Talwatte and Grace Wickremasinghe.