The comment thread under a YouTube video featuring Pankaj Mishra tends to get crowded quickly. The Indian novelist, essayist, literary critic, lecturer, and reporter has that effect on people – perhaps never more so than with his latest book, Age of Anger. Come 2018, Mishra has participated in more than his fair share of debates … Continue reading
It seems inevitable now that Richard Flanagan would come to know Siegfried Heidl better than John Friedrich. Heidl is a work of fiction, but he is Flanagan’s creation; Friedrich on the other hand, when all is said and done, was a man Flanagan spent just three weeks with, some 30 years ago. Yet, Friedrich has … Continue reading
COLOMBO (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Lawyers and activists representing a group of Sri Lankan women who were subjected to female genital cutting as children will meet the justice minister on Wednesday to urge a ban on the ritual. The minister called for a meeting after the women spoke out against the tradition which is practiced … Continue reading
COLOMBO (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – When her daughter turned seven, and it was time for the “khatna” – a female genital mutilation (FGM) ritual – a close friend advised Naqiyah to try the butter knife method. A trusted doctor in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo would simply run a blunt knife against little Tanzeem’s vagina, … Continue reading
It is difficult to predict when the elephants will come. As darkness falls around Udawalawe National Park, the 52 villages that speckle its borders go on alert. Thin wire fences hum with the threat of electricity. Across the dry zone, farmers climb up into rudimentary treehouses overlooking their paddy fields. They must try … Continue reading
YOU CIRCLE THIS exhibition as you might a sacred site. The layout is such that one artwork leads you to another in a ring. The Red Dot Gallery in Colombo is so small that every work in ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ seems close enough to speak to its neighbour. They murmur to each other … Continue reading
