Memoirs & Biographies

Shamil Wanigaratne was born in Sri Lanka and attended St. Anthony's College Kandy. He studied psychology at the University of Nottingham and City University London. Following his post-graduate training, he started his career in clinical psychology in 1987 and worked in the National Health Service. With the help of Manjusri's son Kushan Manjusri, he has been working on this monograph for over a decade.

L.T.P. Manjusri was born in 1902 in Aluthgama, a small fishing village near Galle in Southern Sri Lanka, and died a national hero in 1982, having had an extraordinary life. His story is a commentary on the cultural history of 20th Century Sri Lanka. His contribution to art and the history of art spans the previous century to the birth and development of modern art in the country. 

Manjusri's works are found in many galleries, including the Sapumal Foundation and the National Art Gallery in Colombo, Horniman Museum in London, Kunst Historiches Museum in Vienna, New York Public Library, Columbia University Library, Metropolitan Museum in New York and in numerous private collections.

After giving up robes in 1949, he worked as a journalist at Lake House Newspapers until his retirement in 1968. He wrote more than 200 articles pertaining to temple paintings, Asian art and culture. Recognized both in Sri Lanka and internationally, his many accolades include the Ramon Magsasay Award. He died a national hero.

Dr. Philip G Veerasingam retired as Senior Consultant Surgeon, National Hospital of Sri Lanka (former General Hospital) in 2000. Since then, he authored two outstanding memoirs: Remembered Vignettes – the life of a medical student in Ceylon of the early 1960s, and Cry of the Devil Bird – incidents in the life of a surgeon, working in Ceylon (Sri Lanka), from 1965 to 2005.

Read an excerpt!

Incidents in the life of a surgeon, working in Ceylon Sri Lanka, from 1965 to 2005

"One month after assuming duties as DMO, I took delivery of the car in Colombo. That evening, with me seated by his side, my driver drove it through the night to Koslande 200 miles away. We reached home at about 2 a.m. the next day and went to sleep, dog-tired. On the next morning, we found a patch of oil beneath one wheel of the newly acquired car. The fault was a leak of brake-fluid. A faulty brake-washer from the wheel-cylinder had caused it. It was easily replaced, though it seemed an inauspicious beginning to a relationship with my new vehicle."

As a natural sequel to the hugely successful Remembered Vignettes, Dr. Philip Veerasingam traces his trajectory as a country doctor posted in remote and rural parts of Sri Lanka, culminating as Consultant Surgeon in Colombo. Travel with him on this fascinating journey and re-live the difficult working conditions and the necessity to improvise solutions on the job.

The life and times of Jeronis Pieris, as seen through his letters

Anne Abayasekara started her career in 1947 as the first female Sri Lankan staff journalist.

In the highly productive decades that followed she wrote on a variety of themes. This book covers the themes of the changing role of women, love of motherland, and family and home life. It also includes a section on how others viewed her. The book is bound to captivate readers - both those acquainted with her writing and those with no knowledge of it, stirring their hearts and minds.

'She always managed to marshal her material and then produce a coherent, beautiful pattern, an expression of simple but vibrant language.' - Siri Ranawake