Book lovers who spread the word
“I’m the guy who loves bringing in mud to the sitting room”: Herman talks about his latest controversial book. Pix by M.A. Pushpa Kumara
Care to share- the innocent question resonated among the friendly faces at the Colombo Book Swap on October 6 at the Colpetty House as readers gathered to listen to author Herman Gunaratne animatedly speak on his latest book ‘God’s Secret Agent –A Battle against Dark Forces’.
Herman, author of four previous books; The Plantation Raj, For a Sovereign State, Tortured Island and the Suicide Club candidly narrated the mystical events of his latest story which brings to focus mysterious dark forces and the confrontation between good and evil.
“This book is about a strange subject all of you have heard about but very few have experienced,” Herman said as he launched into an excerpt from the book.
An initial skeptic himself, he captures his inner battles of belief in the intangible and the practices which he saw with his own eyes.
What of the backlash of this somewhat controversial topic of the occult which Herman explores in his narrative? He goodnaturedly laughs aloud “I’m the guy who loves bringing in mud to the sitting room.”
Nadeesha Paulis
“The stories were so preposterous I didn’t think anyone would believe me,” he muses, but his motivation to pen his idea of the truth was what ultimately drove him to publish.
Brainchild of mother and daughter duo – Chandrika Gadiewasam and Nadeesha Paulis, the Book Swap has grown from five friends meeting at the mall food court around five years ago to currently having a reputed social media presence and a growing network of 6000 avid readers in their community.
A family of writers, Nadeesha has dabbled in journalism while Chandrika was a sub- editor and journalist in reputed publications for many years.
The idea came to Chandrika when she observed the numerous publications the family had accumulated and thought of exchanging them, while also expanding their reading horizons without too much cost. A Facebook group saw the idea take off with strangers turning up and exchanging books with other readers. In future, Nadeesha hopes to encourage more Sinhala and Tamil readers as well. “I also want to take it out to places where there isn’t much literature,” she states hoping to expand the initiative to include school students. Meanwhile University students will soon host a public book swap in Kandy, she tells us.
Nadishka Aloysius
The initiative has now branched out to include other events like Author’s Talk, Book Talk and Creator’s Edition where people can share their music or writing in an open-mic setting.
Children’s author Nadishka Aloysius who was at the author’s meet- up has been participating in the Book Swap since 2015. “I liked the idea of exchanging books and meeting people who liked reading. It’s opportunities like this which people shouldn’t take for granted as it brings more culture and education and something different to society,” she said.
Hosting Sri Lankan authors is intentional we’re informed with Nadeesha stating, “We’re trying to encourage readers to read Sri Lankan books.” They started with Nayomi Munaweera and hope to have Chhimi Tenduf-La and Ashok Ferrey soon.
Intimate conversations with the authors themselves further fuels our understanding of their vision, Nadeesha believes.
“It’s a people driven social movement,” she adds, “it’s all the people who come for these events and I just advocate it.” She expresses her joy in being a part of this volunteer-based non-commercial movement which has just started penning the opening of its own story.
Check the Book Swap’s Facebook group for more updates.