Both local and tourist
He has just won the 2019 Gratiaen for his first book, but Andrew Fidel Fernando at 31, has a long established writing career following doosras and bouncers. What launched the cricket writer for ESPN into the literary orbit was probably the pithiest modern biography of the island in recent times ‘Upon a Sleepless Isle: Travels [...]
An envoy’s quest to regain dignity for Lanka’s African community
The Afro-Lankan community is scattered across the island, mainly in Puttalam but also in pockets of Matara, Negombo and Batticaloa. Altogether there are some 350 families. Descendants of about 15,000 individuals brought in by colonisers, they are known as ‘Kaffirs’. When Robina P. Marks first heard the word she was aghast. At home it would [...]
Letters to the Editor
No thieves broke into the Museum in the 1980s I am the Retired Director, Department of National Museums. I joined the Department as the Assistant in Zoology on February 19, 1951 and served in this capacity until I was appointed the Director on October 1, 1965. I served as Director from October 1,1965 until my [...]
Appreciations
He led a full life Helmut Hendrichs Three months on since his demise it is still with a very heavy heart that I pen these words about my dear Papa, Helmut Hendrichs, who, following a short battle with cancer, passed away peacefully on April 15 with my mother beside him. Papa was born in Nordkirchen, [...]
Fortifying Galle Fort
As restrictions around the pandemic eased this month, a team of workers returned to Galle Fort. They are in the middle of a two-year restoration project that has them clambering over the great bastions, excavating echoing underground chambers and clearing out an ancient drainage system – all part of an ambitious effort to restore this [...]
The one that got away – Thusith Wijedoru
Thusith Wijedoru is a freelance sports photographer, attached to the Sri Lanka Cricket Board. Having cut his photographic teeth as a schoolboy on the ‘concrete jungle’ architecture of Hong Kong, he returned to Sri Lanka to work for a series of TV advertising production houses. He got back into still photography after the 2004 tsunami, [...]
EWC winners for creative writing
The English Writers Collective (EWC) of Sri Lanka has announced the winners of the 2020 Creative Writing Competition. The awards ceremony will take place in the last quarter of 2020. Poetry: 1st Prize: Upeksha Bandara – Watch-Mender 2nd Prize: Himangi Jayasundara – Love and Piyumi Bhagya Navaratne – Unseen Melody 3rd Prize: Chameera Weligamage – [...]
WNPS zooms in on the plight of Lanka’s mangroves
‘Do or do not, there is no try: Mangroves and their future’ the Wildlife and Nature Protection Society’s (WNPS) monthly lecture for July will be delivered online by Dr Sevvandi Jayakody at 6 p.m. on July16 via Zoom. Register online at https://forms.gle/Ks5TRqm13pqgZ3Mo9 Mangroves are a group of trees and shrubs that live in the coastal [...]
Making a difference with the stories we tell our children
A few years ago, Sachee Ranaweera was looking for board books for her young son. Board books have rounded edges and simple storylines, are designed to cultivate curiosity and are sturdy enough to withstand the tactile inquisitiveness of a toddler. While there were numerous English books available, what Sachee was specifically looking for were board [...]
How to solve people-centred problems
For nearly seven decades, I have been reading books on various subjects as a habit. In terms of clarity, brevity and lucidness, two books rank highest in my list – Buddhism in a Nutshell by Ven. Naradha and Kalamanakarana and Muleekanga – by Prof. Hema Wijewardene written in Sinhala. Both changed my life for the [...]
Sybil: Farewell to a legendary storyteller
When I wrote this I had just returned after paying my last respects to Sybil Wettasinghe, the legendary storyteller. According to her family members she was in good health just a week before, which was proved through the bright and vibrant colours of her last illustration done just a few days earlier, which we were [...]