Anthology that truly captures the essence of Sri Lanka
View(s):
A package arrived by post the other day. It was “Out Of Sri Lanka”—an amazing collection of poetry put together by three expat Sri Lankan poets, Vidyan Ravinthiran, Seni Seneviratne, and Shash Trevett. The wide range of eclectic poetry included in this unique publication is equalled only by the range of ages of the contributors—twenty odd to ninety odd! It includes the writings of the diaspora.
The brainchild of two poets living in the U.K., Seni and Shash, and the third in Harvard, Vidyan, one can only imagine the enthusiastic effort involved in putting together this collection.
In their introduction, the editors give an excellent account of its evolving scene, correlating it with Sri Lanka’s turbulent history.
A succession of events in the last 50 or 60 years put us on an emotional seesaw, which has spawned a wide range of poetry.
It represents every subject imaginable, and differing writing styles. This is a seamless collection of poetry written in English, Sinhala, and Tamil [the latter two represented by translations) and is a “must read” for anyone interested in literature, poetry in particular. Here, the lesser-known poets rub shoulders with the Sri Lankan “Greats” — Lakdasa Wickremasinghe, Jean Arasanayagam, Anne Ranasinghe, Patrick Fernando, Alfreda De Silva, Mahagamsekera, Siri Gunasinghe, M.A. Nuhman etc.
It truly captures the essence of Sri Lanka. The publication of this anthology firmly places Sri Lankan poetry in the spotlight. The expectations aroused are more than fulfilled by the contents of this volume.
Hopefully it will be recognised for its Sri Lankan “flavour” similar to Caribbean poetry.
Premini Amerasinghe
(Out of Sri Lanka is available at leading bookshops)
Searching for an ideal partner? Find your soul mate on Hitad.lk, Sri Lanka's favourite marriage proposals page. With Hitad.lk matrimonial advertisements you have access to thousands of ads from potential suitors who are looking for someone just like you.