Arun Welandawe-Prematilleke was awarded the Gratiaen Prize 2018 for his play ‘The One Who Loves You So’ (TOWLYS). The drama explores the relationship between Vidhura, a ‘Colombo trust fund baby’, and Nick,…
June 20th is World Refugee Day. In the immediate aftermath of the Easter Sunday attacks, Pakistani refugee families living in Negombo, faced intimidation and violence that forced them to leave their homes. The…
The sun was scorching at the Mullivaikkal memorial grounds as people gathered to remember loved ones and Tamil civilians killed during the war that came to an end on May 18th 2009.…
A series of coordinated bomb explosions killed hundreds in Sri Lanka as they congregated for Easter Sunday mass, on April 21, 2019. Among the six main blast sites were three churches; St.…
Nadaraja Devakrishnan stumbled on the gravity of the microfinance debt issue purely by chance. He was attempting to begin community gardening in a small village, to respond to rising cases of CKDu…
When violence spread to Digana on the 5th of March 2018, Mr. J.M Niyas suffered heavy losses. He lost his grocery store; the source of income that helped him feed and educate…
The Kompannaveediya area has seen rapid transformation over the last decade. What is being termed ‘urban development’, in the form of skyscrapers and luxury properties, has come at the cost of several…
‘We hid inside the house, trying to keep the children calm and quiet’ says Faunoon. She didn’t let her children catch a glimpse of what was happening outside their home in Ambatenne,…
‘I used to give this space for people to hold dansals at on Vesak and Poson poya days’ says Jazeel, indicating the parking area of his showroom. Jazeel’s shop was centrally located…
‘How do you explain this to an eight-year old, and do you explain it at all?’ Nusra asks. Two of her three children watched their grandfather’s shop set on fire by people…
‘For three years, they have been putting up these posters, telling people not to go to our shops’ said Nizar. They were not pasted on his shop, he says, but in public…
Mr. Jazeel (captured in featured image) walks around his shop, located on the bend near the Akurana bridge, 12 kilometres from the bustling Kandy city. It looks the same as it did…
In Akurana, bunting with the words ‘Ramadan Mubarak’ hangs inside a quiet home. In Digana, newly built shops hurry to restock for weeks of festive shopping. In Pallekele, kanji is being cooked…
Update: The first months of 2018 have seen global scrutiny of Facebook steadily increase and the reveal of the data breach by Cambridge Analytica. Several countries impacted by the weaponisation of social…
‘I rode back home that day watching fires burn the places I knew and loved. I watched mobs hunt for petrol. A curfew on the streets meant some areas were deserted, by…
