Wednesday, 25 February 2015 00:00
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The National Peace Council, in conjunction with internationally-renowned Sri Lankan author Shyam Selvadurai, will launch the Write to Reconcile Anthology 2 on Tuesday 3 March at Committee Room D at the BMICH at 4pm.
The speakers at the launch will be Ambassador Grete Løchen of the Royal Norwegian Embassy, Andrew Mann, Charge d’ Affairs, US Embassy and Dr. Jehan Perera, the Executive Director of the National Peace Council and Selvadurai.
Write to Reconcile is a creative writing project, now in its second year, that took place between February and December 2014 and was sponsored by the Royal Norwegian Embassy and the American Centre. It brought together 24 Sri Lankan writers who were interested in writing creative pieces (fiction, memoir or poetry) on the issues of conflict, peace, reconciliation, trauma and memory, as they relate to Sri Lanka. The project was open to Sri Lankan citizens and members of the Sri Lankan diaspora between ages 18-29, as well as to all secondary school and university teachers.
The project consisted of an eight-day creative writing workshop that was held partly in Kandy and partly in Batticaloa, as well as two creative writing online forums. During the residential workshop and the online forums, the participants generated creative work and learned the tools and techniques of writing and editing. There were also screenings of films, visits by local human rights workers and field visits to people and communities affected by the war.
In addition there was a cultural tour of Kandy and visits to various cultural communities in Batticaloa, all aimed at enhancing the participants’ knowledge of issue of war, trauma, memory and reconciliation, as well as the rich cultural diversity of Sri Lanka.
Following the workshops and forums, the participants worked with Selvadurai, the Project Director, to prepare a creative piece for publication. The results are published in the Write to Reconcile Anthology 2.
