A unique celebration for a writer
A rare opportunity dawns on Sinhala readers with all the short stories by Sri Lanka’s foremost contemporary writer Gunadasa Amarasekera reprinted and made available as he marks his 80th birthday.
A year-long programme to evaluate his contribution to Sinhala literature gets underway this week. This is the first time that such an elaborate programme has been planned to assess a writer’s creativity and his place in the literary world. On Tuesday, December 9, at a gathering at the BMICH Committee Room ‘C’, ‘Amarasekera Retrospect’ will be inaugurated marking the re-launch of all his short stories and a critical evaluation of his role as a short story writer. Professor K.N.O. Dharmadasa and Dr. Sarath Amunugama will deliver the keynote addresses.
Starting his short story writing as a student at Nalanda (where he had moved from Christchurch, Baddegama and Ratanasara Vidyalaya) when he won international recognition winning the first place for his maiden effort ‘Soma’ in 1951, he was greatly encouraged to continue his writing skills. His first collection of short stories, ‘Ratu Rosa Mala’ (it had the award winning ‘Soma’ too) came out in 1952. The second, ‘Jeevana Suwanda’ was published four years later. Critics hailed it as a landmark in the history of short story writing in Sri Lanka. (At that time there were no State Literary Awards).
Amarasekera has eight collections of short stories published over the past 56 years. The latest is ‘Vil thera maranaya’ published last year. It won recognition at this year’s State Literary Festival bagging the award for the best collection of short stories. ‘Ek Temen Polowata’ (1972) also won the State Literary Award. Apart from ‘Jeevana Suwanda, at least four of his works - ‘Ek Temen Polowata’, ‘Katha Pahak’ (1975), ‘Gal Pilimaya Saha Bol Pilimaya’ (1988) and ‘Marana Manchakaye Dutu Sihinaya’ (1998) have been acclaimed as milestones which helped change the course of the Sinhala short story.
All books reprinted
Amarasekara’s publisher, Visidunu Publishers will make available the full collection of short stories at the inaugural ceremony. “We expect a good response from the readers since some of the publications have been out of print for a long time,” says Visidunu chief Gevindu Cumaratunga who is also the live wire of the ‘Amarasekera Retrospect’.
Amarasekera has been acknowledged as a leading novelist, poet and critic in the literary scene today and his output over the years has been remarkable. He made his mark as a novelist with ‘Karumakkarayo’ which won the Pedris Award for best literary work in 1955. A story which led to a lot of discussion, it was made into a film by Tissa Abeysekera.
His poems will be the topic of discussion at the second in the series of programmes which will possibly be held in two months time. His work on literary and social issues has also created a lot of interest.
Serving on the ‘Amarasekera Retrospect’ committee are Ven.Tiricunamalaye Ananda Anu Nayaka Thera, Professor Tissa Kariyawasam, Professor Vimal Dissanayake, Professor Asoka Amaratunga, Dr. Ranga Wickremasinghe, Parliamentarian Wimal Weerawansa, Gevindu Cumaratunga and the Secretary – Ministry of Cultural Affairs. The Ministry of Cultural Affairs is a co-sponsor of the project. |
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