‘Stories’, Gratiaen award winning novel by Charulatha Abeysekara Thewarathanthri, was launched at an event at Sooriya Village on Saturday August 5 well-attended by family and friends. Charulatha won the award exactly twenty years after her father, the late Dr.Tissa Abeysekara, won the award for his book “Bringing Tony Home.’ This is the first instant in Sri Lanka that a father and daughter have won the same literary award.
Among the guests were Sumitra Peiris, Nanda Malini, Prof. Sunil Ariyaratne, Dr.and Mrs.GunadasaAmarasekara, Mr. and Mrs. G.R. Perera, RavindraRandeniya, Kaushalya Fernando, JagathChamila, Thilakaratna Kuruvita Bandara, K.S. Sivakumaran, Neil Wijeratne, Jayasumana Disanayaka, Chandana Disanayaka, Ruhanie Perera, Vivimarie Vanderpoorten, Dileepa Abeysekera and Ajith Galappaththi.
Sarasavi Publishers was represented by Mr. and Mrs. H. D. Premasiri, Sripali Perera,. Saman Lokukaluge and others. Mr. Wanniatchi of Sadeepa Bookshop (Pvt) Ltd and Mr. Pradeep Samaranayaka of Expo graphics Books (Pvt) Ltd were there from the Book Publishers Association. Prof. Walter Perera, chairman of the Gratiaen Trust, attended the event along with past and present trustees including Gillian Ratnayaka who is the sister of award winning writer Michael Ondaatje, founder of the Gratiaen Trust.
Also present were Prof Samantha Hettiarachchi, and Dr.Premini Hettiarachchi, senior lecturers of the University of Moratuwa, and M.N. Edussuriya, Seetha Siriwardana and D. Wickramasinghe, past principal and deputy principals of Visakha Vidyalaya, Colombo, Lakshmin Dharmasena, proof reader of the book and Jill Macdonald, principal of The Study were also in attendance. Jim McCabe, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank and Ashan Nissanka, CEO of Lanka Orix Finance were also present.
Sandamali Hewanayaka was the compere of the event. Prof. Samantha Hettiarachchi, spoke about the author and of writing, saying that ‘it was evident that Charulatha’s first love was literature and arts’ even while she was a student at the university, and that she was the University’s ‘millennium gift to the literary world.’
Kaushalya Fernando, Svetlana Abeysekara and Nandun Disanayaka presented readings from the book. The first book of the novel Stories was officially presented to author/teacher. Pushpa Meewella, Charulatha’s mother.
The book is now available in Sarasavi Bookshop.
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