One Thousand Moons, and a Thousand Moons More
News broke on the morning hours of October 18 that Shehan Karunatilaka had become the first Sri Lankan author since Michael Ondaatje to win the Booker prize. The following hours, days and…
Galle
The Gift: Five Installations at Lunuganga
In his acclaimed book on the subject of gifts, Lewis Hyde remarks “When we are moved by art we are grateful that the artist lived, grateful that he labored in the service…
Decades on, Southern Mothers of the Disappeared Look for Truth, Justice and Relief
“I am the luckiest mother in Sri Lanka. I got my son’s body back. There are thousands of mothers who never get their children’s bodies back.” Dr. Manorani Saravanamuttu was speaking after…
Commemorating the anti-Muslim violence of June 2014: An urgent call for accountability and reconciliation
The 15th of June 2017 marks the 3rd anniversary of the orchestrated anti-Muslim violence in Dharga Town, Aluthgama and several other areas in the south. After a steady buildup of hate sentiment…
Legend along Littoral Landscapes: Tales from the Muslim World
The island of Sri Lanka, since ancient times, has featured prominently in the navigational and spiritual cartography of the Muslim world. The word of Persian origin ‘Sarandip ’ (سرانديپ) has long captured…
On GLF and Evolving Culture
Featured image courtesy Amalini de Sayrah Last week saw the usually sleepy town of Galle come to life with the Galle Literary Festival. In a celebration of all things literary, Colombars descended…
A volunteer’s story from post-tsunami Sri Lanka
Just over ten years ago, a powerful undersea earthquake caused a devastating tsunami that wrapped around two-thirds of Sri Lanka’s coastline on Boxing Day, at around 8:30am. Being a holiday, locals were…
#icanChangeSL & #wecanChangeSL: Shaping a new Sri Lanka
Engage with this campaign in Tamil (புதிய இலங்கையை வடிவமைப்போம்…) or Sinhala (ශ්රී ලංකාවේ අනාගතය හැඩගැස්වීම සදහා…) too! ### The Presidential poll of 8 January 2015 inspired the largest number of voters in Sri Lanka’s…
Prince Salie: A story of sapphires and steamships
Mohammed Usuff Mohammed Salie was born in 1877. He was the grandson of Mohamed Usuff, the Alim of the Kandawatte mosque in Galle, who was responsible for handwriting a Quran he knew…
AFTER A LONG JOURNEY HOME: SOLITUDE IN JAFFNA AND THE SILENCE OF A CITY
[Editors note: Dr. Rajini Thiranagama (née Rajasingham), was a Tamil human rights activist and feminist murdered in 1989 by the LTTE. She was one of the founding members of the University Teachers for Human…
Protecting the Enigmatic Blue Whales of Sri Lanka: In Conversation with Asha de Vos
The largest animal on the planet, the blue whale, is found in Sri Lankan waters. Unusually, the blue whales off our coast do not to migrate to polar waters for feeding –…
In conversation with Shashi Tharoor at Galle Literary Festival
As part of the Galle Literary Festival, I had the opportunity to speak with Shashi Tharoor, whose writing I’ve immensely enjoyed read since my University days in India. As the festival’s website…
Review of ‘Right of Way: A journey of resettlement’
I was delighted when asked to review . At the time of review, the publication was not in the public domain, and given what I had seen of Sharni’s previous work, I…
Killer Representative
I am assembling the scene, a local hood and his gang come to a Christmas Eve gathering at a beach hotel, want to dance with foreign women, see a bloke from town…
E01: The spectacular beauty & life-threatening dangers of Sri Lanka’s Southern Expressway
We drove down to Galle today on the newly opened E01 road, more commonly known as the Southern Highway / Expressway. Setting off at 6.33am, we were in Galle at 7.45am, and…