A street where Sri Lankan stories found their readers
By Ifham Nizam Pictures by Nishan S Priyantha and Kamal Bogoda Ashok Ferrey took readers into an older Colombo through Colpetty People. Vivimarie Vanderpoorten opened the door to the personal stories behind her poetry. Andrew Fidel Fernando brought cricket, culture and the distinctive world of Sri Lankan school cricket into the conversation, while Ramya Jirasinghe […]
Fairway Street of Stories is a new initiative that aims to connect Sri Lankan English-language writers with their readers. The event was organized by Amendra Haputhanthri, Director of Sarasavi Bookshop (Pvt) Ltd. Haputhanthri believes that Sri Lankan English writing has a unique sense of place and that it is important to create market for readers who want to discover stories that are distinctly Sri Lankan.
The first event demonstrated the wide range of literary world that Sri Lankan writing can cover. For Haputhanthri, the work of Ashok Ferrey, Vivimarie Vanderpoorten, Andrew Fidel Fernando, and Ramya Jirasinghe offered a glimpse into the world behind Colpetty People, the Colombo it captures, Sri Lankan school cricket, the personal stories behind poetry, and the journey from manuscript to published book.
Ferrey's writing reveals the changing environment of Colombo, while Vanderpoorten's poetry exposes the personal histories embedded in the lines. Fernando's work captures Sri Lanka's school cricket culture, and Jirasinghe's talk emphasized the patience, revision and persistence required to become a published author. Asanka de Mel and Margaret Richardson discussed the importance of Sri Lanka's school cricket culture and the need to develop the country into a developed nation by 2048.
The event demonstrated that literature can be more than just entertainment; it can become a means to preserve memories and human experiences.
Written by urgent.news from The Island Sri Lanka's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
