Spreading the word of Sri Lankan Portuguese Creole
Trinco resident Vyvonne Joseph, grew up speaking Sri Lankan Portuguese Creole (SLPC) with her parents, younger sister and younger brother. Even though their use of SLPC is somewhat limited as it is only spoken at home and with extended family, Vyvonne says that even their Tamil neighbours have picked up a little SLPC over the [...]
Taking art to the people at GotaGoGama
Contributing some additional colour to the peaceful protests at the Galle Face Green came naturally to self-taught British-Sri Lankan artist, Yasodhara Pathanjali. In April this year following the Sinhala and Tamil New Year, Yasodhara began work on an artistic project to be displayed at GotaGoGama using an updated version of a painting she had created [...]
Letters to the Editor
Time to think in new ways The events on May 9 have devastated all of us patriotic Sri Lankans living in the country and all over the world. When we dream of seeing a peaceful and prosperous Sri Lanka, what we witness is a ravaged country, divided again by political thuggery. It is all because [...]
Appreciations
Amma, the many lessons to be learned from your life are truly amazing Sophia Weerasinghe Today, May 22, 2022 marks the 100th birth anniversary of our beloved Amma – Sophia Weerasinghe nee Gunawardena, who passed away on November 6, 2019. She was born at Elibank Road Colombo, the second in a family of six children. [...]
A soulmate’s tribute to the vagabond spirit of Ena
The Ena de Silva House was a watershed in Lanka’s soul search for an identity after Independence. Now relocated to Lunuganga, you enter the fort-like facade of the house that Bawa built, today called No. 5 Lunuganga and the inner courtyards speak to you as do the frangipani trees and giant bush, the harmonious marriage [...]
Tomorrow, Gratiaen Prize 2021 shortlist event online
The shortlist for the Gratiaen Prize 2021 will be announced at an online event to be held tomorrow, May 23 at 6 p.m., the Gratiaen Trust said in a press release this week. The event, at which there will be a panel discussion with the long listed writers, followed by the announcement of the shortlist [...]
Seeing the marginalised and creating bridges
Fabienne Francotte’s work looks at what remains in the aftermath of trauma, abuse and migratory displacement. Working with abuse victims, Fabienne created this collection over several years, often informed by her creative workshops. These drawing projects took place in circumstances ranging from mental hospitals and children’s development centres in Sri Lanka to Rohingya refugees in [...]
Empathising while capturing People’s loneliness and fear
Appealing in its rich colours and tantalising title, Buddhadasa Galappatty’s new collection of poems (published in December 2021) will certainly in the future be returned to and leafed through again in private libraries, because like Nashe’s “In Time of Plague”, it is bound to haunt readers who underwent a worldwide view of the 17th Century [...]