Floating on her back, for a moment all Sonali Deraniyagala could see was a perfectly blue sky. Overhead, a flock of storks flew in formation. Later she would write, ‘Painted storks, I thought. A flight of painted storks across a Yala sky, I’d seen this thousands of times.’ A beat and then Sonali was swept … Continue reading
When Lal Medawattegedara asks me for a pen and paper, it isn’t to write. Instead, the winner of the Gratiaen Prize for 2012 intends to try his hand at drawing. Outlined on my pad is the MGK of his title, a mountain known as the Maha Geeni Kanda for how its silhouette resembles the shape … Continue reading
Michelle de Kretser Before she ever puts pen to paper, Michelle de Krester knows how her book will end. What she’s more uncertain off is whether there will be a book at all. If ‘Questions of Travel’ were her last novel, it would be a pity, for its clear that here is an author at … Continue reading
Just days before he sat down for this interview, the Ven. Karma Jiga felt something in his chest flutter. The sensation was a familiar one, recognizable from years spent struggling with a heart ailment. Only this time he was up in the hills in Nuwara Eliya and it was late at night. Ven Karma Jiga: … Continue reading
It’s a Thursday night at Qbaa, and there’s barely standing room. Usually, there’s no quieting the din, but when Umaria Sinhawansa takes the mike everyone stops to listen. She’s only 22 years old but the young singer claims the spotlight with complete assurance, her lovely voice running up and down the scale with an easy … Continue reading
Sitting across from a stranger in a foreign country, Mirra Fine will sometimes catch herself wondering how she got lucky enough to be there. Mirra and her fiance, chef and activist Daniel Klein produce ‘The Perennial Plate’ – an online weekly documentary series ‘dedicated to socially responsible and adventurous eating.’ For series one and two … Continue reading
“It would have been a good last chapter, but there you have it,” says John Julius Norwich “no one knew it was going to happen.” If the British historian and traveller had published ‘The Popes: A History’ in 2013 instead of 2011, he would have had for his epilogue an event quite unlike any other … Continue reading
Don’t let Nish de Gruiter’s suit trick you into believing he’s a conservative guy. The truth is in the details: the tapering pants folded up neatly to reveal an ankle, his bare feet shod in loafers. The blue and white checkered jacket with its fine print doesn’t have any lining or padding at the shoulders … Continue reading
Anjali Joseph was in Jaffna yesterday and tomorrow she’ll be in Kandy. For a few hours in the middle, we find ourselves at the Dutch Hospital in Colombo where Anjali confesses that she’s feeling a little disoriented – but it’s more than just the travelling. “I think for an Indian it’s very disorienting to be … Continue reading
When Radhika Hettiarachchi asked Sri Lankan mothers from North and East for their stories, she knew what she would hear would go beyond them; that their stories would stretch to encompass their children and their husbands, their mothers and fathers, their homes, their work and even their communities. “When you ask a woman about her … Continue reading
Smriti Daniel 