Filed under life stories, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, unusual people
Channa Wickremasekera in Facebook, … [where items disappear into the depths] … with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi
A close friend recently sent me the link to Louis Theroux’s documentary ‘The Settlers’. He was moved by it, he said. I was too, not only by the documentary, but also by the fact that my friend was moved. He is hard to move. He is very cynical about all the protests I go to. How many bombs have you stopped? He asks jokingly. He hates what Israel is doing in Gaza but he cannot see how ordinary people like him or me can change anything.
ITEM in Groundviews, 20 January 2011, entitled “Responding to a Facile Appeal: Galle Literary Festival and Freedom of Expression”
Michelle de Kretser signing. Photo by Sharni Jayawardena, courtesy Galle Literary FestivalThe Editors of Groundviews received via email this morning intimation of an international appeal made by Reporters Without Borders and Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS), a network of exiled Sri Lankan journalists. The Galle literary festival appeal notes inter alia,
“We believe this is not the right time for prominent international writers like you to give legitimacy to the Sri Lankan government’s suppression of free speech by attending a conference that does not in any way push for greater freedom of expression inside that country.”
Filed under life stories, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, unusual people
AVERSION is due to be launched in July 2025 …. and there are some special pre-launch offers
‘Aversion’ is a book about a country renewing and rebuilding itself. The main character is an investigative journalist, initially on assignment in Sri Lanka, where her extended family live. Initially overwhelmed by negative news and the chaos she comes into, she witnesses the country reinventing itself after terror attacks, civil war, natural disaster and economic crisis, and reinvents herself in response, reframing her perspective to appreciate the resilience of the country and even in herself.
A NEWS ITEM in The Island, 25 May 2025 …Final rites of veteran actress Malani Fonseka to be held with state honours on Monday, 26th May at Independence Square”
The final rites of veteran actress and iconic queen of Sri Lankan cinema, Malani Fonseka, will be held with state honours on Monday, 26th May 2025, at the Independence Square.
DEAUVILLE, FRANCE – MARCH 05: Sri Lankan actress Malani Fonseka awaded during the Deauville film festival on March 5, 2014 in Deauville, France …… Photo by Dominique Charriau/WireImage
A discussion regarding the arrangements forthe state funeral was held this afternoon (24) at the Presidential Secretariat, under the leadership of Minister of Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs, Dr. H. M. Sunil Senevi and Secretary to the President Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake.
Jeevan Ravindran in Al-Jazeera, 24 May 2025…. where the title runs thus: ‘Need answers’: Will Sri Lanka’s Tamils find war closure under Dissanayake?”
Tamils commemorating the loved ones they lost, or who were ‘disappeared’, during the civil war that ended 16 years ago are still waiting for answers.
Mullivaikkal, Sri Lanka – On a beach in northeastern Sri Lanka, Krishnan Anjan Jeevarani laid out some of her family’s favourite food items on a banana leaf. She placed a samosa, lollipops and a large
Uditha Devapriya, in The Island, 18 May 2025, where the title reads “Searcing for George Keyt”
George Keyt, Sri Lanka’s most celebrated painter, died 32 years ago in 1993. During his life and after his death, he became the subject of several studies by Sri Lankan and foreign scholars. Today his paintings have found their way to some of the biggest art collections in his country, as well as to places like Christie’s and Sotheby’s.
Taken together, these paintings represent some of the finest examples of modern art in Sri Lanka and Asia. They have also become symbols of Asian modernism.
Item in the THE ISLAND.LK, 16 May 2025
Filed under life stories, sri lankan society, unusual people
Item in The Sunday Times of Sri Lanka ... sent by Dushy Perera, a planter … rukrkaganana fellow … & intrepid traveller
Royston Ellis and photographer Gemunu Amarasinghe set out to discover some of them in this monthly series – Plantation Homes
“When you see clouds over the Great Western range of hills”, said the planter, “we know it will rain in the afternoon. That’s why, when a captain wins the toss on the cricket field of the Radella Sports Club, he looks up at the hills. If there are clouds, he makes sure his team bats first.”
HAI Gonnetileke, Preface to the booklet THOSE LONG AFTERNOONS. CHILDHOOD IN COLONIAL CEYLON, Colombo, Lake House Bookshop, 1989 … reproduction made possible by the work of Oliver Guruge in Lanka.
Evelyn Fredrick Charles Ludowyk Jnr was born on 16th October 1906 in Galle, Ceylon and died on 1st June 1985 in Colchester, England. He became the Professor of English at the age of thirty and chose early retirement in 1956. He settled in England with his Hungarian wife Edith whom he had married in 1941. His death brought to an end a long and fruitful partnership in which their professional talents, artistic gifts, social commitment and political beliefs made common cause. Edith died on 11th February 1987.
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