Vijita Fernando: Bilingual writer with 'depth'
Reading Homecoming, on my way to my usual rounds of the weekly
interview, I realised that the writer was someone who possess more depth
than other writers of today, whose medium was English. She was in touch
with the real afflictions of the real people and that's indeed very
rare.
Vijita Fernando, writer and translator has been a journalist for
twenty five years, which had given her access to material as well as
inspirations. She has published two collections of short stories -
Eleven stories and Once, on a mountain side.
She is also a translator, from English to Sinhala and vice versa.
Some of her translations include Madara, Yasoravaya and Malagiya Aththo.
She has won many awards for her own writing as well as for her
translations.
She received the State Literary Award for her translation of Women
writing, in 2001; a Gretian for Out of the darkness in 2002; Ian
Goonatilleke Award for her translation Chameleon, in 2005; and a
Lifetime Achievement Award by the Press Institute this year.
Q: What attracts you to topical issues like drug addiction and
employment in the Middle East?

Vijita Fernando |
A: It came from my being a journalist. I've had to encounter
these type of issues as a journalist. Once, I remember I went to Baghdad
on an assignment. There I met many women like the women I write about
and they couldn't stop talking about the ordeals they went through.
There is a slum near where we live and here drug abuse has a huge impact
on them.
Q: How else did your career as a journalist help you to become
a writer?
A: Being a journalist doesn't make you a good writer. But the
training you receive through being a journalist, the discipline in
writing and the accuracy, is definitely beneficial.
Q: What are the techniques you adopt when writing?
A: I don't adopt techniques. But when you are an experienced
writer you develop a certain style. But this is not what's most
important. Style varies from individual to individual. What's most
important is the craft, which I am very particular about. If I read a
certain story over and over again it's to make sure that it has a flow.
Q: What sort of a convention do you prefer to follow and why?
A: I like the first person narrator convention very much. I
don't know why exactly, it's probably because it gives you a different
perspective. For example The wild one is written in a child's
perspective. But first person narration doesn't suit every theme and you
have to prevent it from sounding like a sermon.
Q: Why haven't you written any novels?
A: I'm currently engaged in writing a novel, but it's a very
slow process. I write a lot not only creative things, but also I write
to two international agencies, in which context, writing short stories
is much easier. Besides I like to have time for myself, and unlike a
short story a novel is a huge undertaking.
Q: Why were you attracted to translating?
A: Sinhala language is one of my greatest passions. I have
tried to write in Sinhala, so many times, but couldn't write the way I
write English. And I thought, translating Sinhala to English is the next
best thing.
I find that there is a great literary body now in Sri Lanka, writing
in Sinhala. But unless somebody translates them, the rest in the English
reading world would not come across them. The objective of my
translating is that more Sinhala writers are introduced to the English
readership.
Q: Why did you find it difficult to write in Sinhala at first?
A: Actually I tried only very recently, even then only half
heartedly and I wasn't successful. I am now trying to achieve this
through translating English into Sinhala.
Q: What are the problems you have encountered while
translating?
A: I don't have a problem of translating Sinhala into English.
But, English into Sinhala I've realized that the words don't come as
freely. I have to, some times look up the dictionary or ask someone. But
it's not a huge problem.
Q: Did you have any particular interest, translating some
texts than others?
A: I only translate creative work and never poetry, only
prose. I'm very choosy about what I translate. I look for quality. There
are such great books out there, it's a pleasure to translate them. In
the end, because I always look for quality, all the books I've
translated are inadvertently books written by renowned Sinhala writers.
Q: You are fond of rural settings, what's your connection to
it?
A: I was born in a village off Hikkaduwa, but stayed there
only until I was about twelve. However I have my roots there. It's a
very fertile source for writers. Some romanticize the village, but there
is much more to write even without doing so.
Q: What was your reaction to the awards you won?
A: I was extremely happy when I won the Gretian because it was a
translation.
****
Would you like to see your words in print?
If you are a talented amateur poet or prose writer with a taste for
quality literature, please email your authentic and original poems and
short stories to [email protected] or post them to Passionate
Pen, Sunday Observer, Associated Newspapers Ceylon Limited, Number 35,
D. R. Wijewardene Mawatha, Colombo 10 to be featured on our new page
Passionate Pen.
They may be written under any title, in any style and consist of
1,500 words or less. You can also look forward to outstanding interviews
with leading personalities in the field of literature, in our quest to
improve our readers' knowledge of quality literature.
[email protected]
|