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Slamming session of thought provoking and funny poetry
By Esther Williams
It was an evening of vibrant spoken word - a fresh experience for poetry lovers at the Book Buzz organized by the British Council when British novelist and poet Lucy English offered a taste of performance poetry.

Popularly known as the ‘slam sex goddess’ since her participation at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival that is considered the largest arts festival in the world, Lucy English is one of Bristol’s leading performance poets engaging in ‘Slam poetry’

Performance poetry that has been relatively popular in the US and UK over the past 10 to15 years is specifically composed for an audience as opposed to the written form. When recited, it is similar to a conversation that the poet engages in with the audience.

Slam poetry is when writers perform their poetry to an audience who rate the poets and ‘judge’ them by picking their favourite poet. “I draw on themes intimate to me - relationships, family and what I see around me,” says Lucy. While some of the pieces were amusing, there were others that were serious and thought provoking. “In the company of poets” in which she describes the eccentricity of poets and their lifestyles drew much laughter as did “Family prayers,” that vividly portrayed members of a family and their funny prayer requests.

On a more serious note, ‘Winter’ was about young men who party too hard. Lucy’s reminiscences of Sri Lanka which incidentally is her place of birth and the images that she remembers figure in the poem, “I was born in a strange country.’ “Crumbling Portuguese buildings and beaches too hot to walk on…” were her descriptions that brought the poem to life.

The monologues are dramatised with varying of tone, voice and emphasis, helping listeners develop a greater understanding of poetry and the poet’s voice. The language used is simple, but it requires that she memorise and practise, she says, adding that it is natural for variations to occur each time she presents a poem.

How did she get into the line? Lucy happened to hear a couple of poets performing in Bristol. “What a great way to present poetry,” she thought. She won the Bristol Poetry Slam in April 1996, the first contest she had ever entered, and has since then performed poetry all over Britain and US.

Born in Sri Lanka in the early 60s and having lived in Ratmalana during the first two years of her life, during her father’s stint with Glaxo, this visit has been special for Lucy. Young she was, yet faint memories linger - the sound of the ceiling fans, the loud cawing of crows and bright flowers.

The Book Buzz series has over the past eight months given Colombo and Kandy audiences the opportunity of experiencing some of the best UK and local literary talent there is to offer. However, the venue of this programme (Barista’s) was debatable as sounds of coffee being ground and people moving around proved distracting.

Get to know Dilip Kumar, the great actor
For over four decades Tony Ranasinghe has excelled as an actor - on stage, on screen as well as the small screen. A thoroughly disciplined artiste, Tony showed his talent as a writer when he did the film script of 'Koti Waligaya' following up with the Sinhala versions of 'Twelfth Night', 'Merchant of Venice' and 'Julius Caesar' for the stage. He has written a number of teledrama scripts as well. Tony's latest effort is the Sinhala version of Indian journalist Bunny Reuben's 'Dilip Kumar - The Definitive Biography'.

The Sarasavi publication, just released, is a mammoth effort running to over 450 pages. Being an accomplished actor himself, Tony would have been enamoured by the acting abilities of Dilip Kumar who had dominated the Indian film scene from the mid-1940s until the close of the 20th century. Being somewhat selective in his choice, Dilip Kumar (Yusuf Khan prior to getting his screen name) has a little over sixty films to his credit. His films like 'Deedar', 'Tarana', 'Aan' and 'Daag' (early 1950s) were hits with Sri Lankan audiences.
He admits that he was very choosy about the characters he portrayed and when he did choose one, the producer was thrilled. In one instance, the producer even carried a full page newspaper advertisement to say "a lifelong ambition has been achieved".

Tony's writing skills are amply demonstrated in his ability to capture the mood of the original work perfectly. He admits it's not a word by word translation and that while following the original text, he took the liberty of omitting certain sections including one whole chapter which he felt was not of interest to the Sinhala reader.

Going back to the original, Reuben's effort has been to present a total picture of the man, skilfully combining the story of Dilip Kumar, the revered actor and Dilip Kumar, the human being. Neither is it an anthology of different episodes of his life story. Tony, on his part, has succeeded in presenting to the Sinhala reader a most readable narrative. The book also provides an insight into the world of Bollywood.

Ranat

Romesh’s match
A novel about cricket, growing up and falling in love…..Romesh Gunesekera’s latest book ‘The Match’ to be released on March 20 tells the story of a teenager from Sri Lanka who loves cricket. But when he arrives in Manila, none of his new friends share his interest until the gorgeous Tina arrives. The year is 1971, the year to remember for an extraordinary match.

Three decades on, Sunny living in London with a teenage son of his own, feels inexplicably unsettled despite the quiet comfort of his life. He tries to reconnect with his past by going to watch the Sri Lankan cricket team play at the Oval. As the sun goes down at the end of the match, he discovers that love, like cricket, is more than just a game and he has one last chance to get his life into focus.

‘The Match’ follows Romesh Goonesekera’s other critically acclaimed books, ‘Reef’ (which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize), Monkfish Moon, Sandglass and Heaven’s Edge. Goonesekera who grew up in Sri Lanka, now lives in London.

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