Book Launch

A leader par excellence

The Gamini Dissanayake Foundation will launch A leader par excellence Gamini Dissanayake - Reminiscences at the BMICH on October 25 at 5 p.m. Dr. Wickrema Weerasooria will deliver the keynote address.

Siri Sadaham Amavesi

Ven. Ridiyagama Indaloka Thera's latest book Siri Sadaham Amavesi was launched as a Dayawansa Jayakody publication recently.

Introduction to world's most controversial writer

Salman Rushdie is one of the most widely-studied and controversial contemporary British authors. The revised and expanded new edition of an established text explores all of Rushdie's fiction, non-fiction and biographical writings to date. Considering the author's fiction as art, in all its richness of significance and technique, D.C.R.A. Goonetilleke examines the blend of autobiographical and historical elements and analyses Rushdie's complex position as a migrant writer.

Salman Rushdie, second edition features new chapters which discuss the author's most recent novels, including Fury (2001), Shalimar the Clown (2005) and The Enchantress of Florence (2008).

It reviews Rushdie's texts in the light of recent research and critical developments and focuses on Rushdie as a novelist in the context of migration, post colonialism and globalisation.

In surveying Rushdie's complicated writing career and the innovative and, later, 'popular' nature of his art, Prof. Goonetilleke provides fresh and original readings of all of the writer's work. The lucid and approachable study is an essential introduction to Salman Rushdie, rendering a notoriously 'difficult' author accessible to students, scholars and general readers alike.

D.C.R.A. Goonetilleke is Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Kelaniya.

He has also held various academic posts in the UK and Europe.

He is a well-established critic of twentieth-century and post-colonial literature, and the leading authority on Sri Lankan English Literature.

Daruwata Deepthimath Anagathayak

Menike Sumanasekera's latest book Daruwata Deepthimath Anagathayak (Bright Future for the Child) is based on the understanding gained from her psychological counselling sessions on the correlation between increasing mental stress and deterioration of the social value system. The book focuses on importance of effective parenting. She has already penned three books addressing the welfare of children which is popular among both children and parents. Her message is straight forward.

The manner in which you raise your children affects how successful they can be later on in life. Effective parenting relies on learning from past experiences and always trying to do what is right for your child. Parental involvement and parenting techniques determine how successful you are as a parent. Although your child is the one going to school each day, you as the parent are equally responsible for his/her success in school. It's your duty to ensure that your child finds success in school by completing assignments, acquiring a love for having learn and dealing with the everyday stress.

The book covers topics on child rearing and parenting skills from the birth of a child to the stage of schooling and adolescence. It handles many situations that the present day parents encounter on a day-to-day basis while providing advice on how to successfully face such challenges. It contains much valuable information for readers and culminates the knowledge worthy of several books.

The book also highlights the importance of directing children from a young age towards positive thinking, and will undoubtedly prove to be an invaluable read for parents, teachers as well as children.

First Sinhala sentence with 56 letters

A Grade- 7 student of Yasodara Balika Vidyalaya , Colombo, Hasini Chethana Devmini Weerasinghe has created history by writing a meaningful single Sinhala sentence, using all 56 letters in the Sinhala alphabet.

This is the first occasion, a Sri Lankan has used all 56 letters in the Sinhala alphabet to write a single meaningful sentence.

A book Sinhalayama Ekama Wekiyakin (All Sinhala letters in one sentence), which includes the sentence, written by Hasini will be launched at the National Library Services Board Auditorium, Independence Avenue , Colombo 7 on October 24 at 3pm.

In an interview with Sunday Observer, 12- year-old Hasini, who is pursuing her studies in the English medium said, of all the subjects, she prefers Sinhala language and Sinhala literature.

AK