Await the travelling Scotsman and his cheery whodunits
As the trail to the Galle Literary Festival hots up, we talk to Alexander McCall Smith, the amazingly prolific Scottish author and creator of the celebrated No 1 Ladies Detective Agency series among others; a gentle humourist and longstanding enthusiast of our Dutch fort and the festival. Having been part of the GLF almost from [...]
Mannar–dotted with many sights and buried history
It is the presence of the flamingos that draws nature lovers to Mannar at this time of year, but the island has numerous other attractions to satisfy the visitor. The breeze was strong enough to turn the giant windmills gently to our left and the 17th century Portuguese Fort came into our view on the [...]
Colomboscope: Artists look to regaining lost environmental wisdom
The eighth edition of Colomboscope, the interdisciplinary art festival, will take place later this month and will feature the work of over 40 local and international artists in a series of exhibitions, performances, workshops, and concerts at several locations in the city. Since its very first edition in 2013, the festival has worked with a [...]
Letters to the Editor
CEB should take a leaf from Norway and upgrade our hydropower assets Norway’s Statkraft has recently announced they are spending € 700 Million upgrading their hydropower dams to help them to withstand heavier rains and high-lightning risks posed by climate change. Their chief executive stated, “We have several projects to strengthen our dams so that [...]
Appreciations
To have known him was one of the great privileges of my life Randolph Ranjit Alwis The 3rd death anniversary of my friend and classmate from Wesley College Colombo fell last week. Still not a week passes without recalling the happy times spent in the boarding and of our lives after leaving school. We first [...]
Look to nature for climate action
Sixteen thousand people died in Europe during the summer of 2022 simply because it was too hot. Last summer in the US, when older people fell down on tar during heat waves, they had to be treated first for burns. Scientists believe that July 2023 was the hottest month on record. Last year, we read [...]
Laughter aside, Grow up Nana! was an eye-opener
Feroze Kamardeen’s one-man show, Grow up Nana! is back. First staged in November last year, Grow up Nana, written and performed by Feroze is a look at life in Sri Lanka from the perspective of the Sri Lankan Muslim. Directed by Sashane Perera and Sirraj Abdul Hameed, the show is produced by Ashan Munasinghe and [...]
Manifold experiences captured in memoirs by husband-wife duo
The Paths I’ve Travelled- by Simon Senaratna A couple of weeks back I attended a fascinating event, the publication of two books of memoirs by a husband and his wife, Sriyantha and Anthea Senaratne. I have known them for ages, but in very different contexts, Anthea as a writer, and Simon as a lawyer, met [...]
A must read for university community involved in critiquing films and sociology research
Lamentation of the Dawn or the complaint of a nameless toilet-cleaning woman Reviewed by Prof. Kusuma Karunarathne After reading Lamentation of the Dawn, I remembered Professor A.J Gunawardena. If he was alive, he would have definitely written a review for this book compiled by Professor Sarath Chandrajeewa, Dr. Laleen Jayamanna and Anoma Jayasinghe. It is [...]