The Colombo Literary Festival Inspires ….. in Three Languages-by Jeremy De Lima
Last Friday 24th July 2026, an innovative chapter began for Sri Lankan literature. This was initiated by an enterprising group of private Sri Lankan book publishers who banded together to launch a trilingual literary festival
The following five directors created this concept.
- Janaka Inimankada – Vidarshana Publishers
- Chandu Haputhanthri – Sarasavi Publishers
- Dinushi Weeraman Abeywickrama – Samayawardana Publishers
- Pradeep Samaranayake – Expographic Books (Pvt) Ltd
- Darshana Ralapanawa – Darshana Publishers
Team behind the Colombo literary Festival
Anomaa Rajakaruna – Festival Curator
Amendra Haputhanthri – Festival Manager
Risali Thiranya – Assistant Festival Manager
Proving the integration between society and literature, they have as their sponsors, leading commercial organisations like Sri Lankan Airlines, Jetwing, John Keels, and Vision Care, just to name a few. International cultural sponsors are Goethe-Institute, Embassy of France and Alliance Française. The Colombo Municipal Council was represented by its ardent literature lover, Mayor Vraîe Cally Balthazaar
The professionally choreographed opening ceremonies highlight was appropriately, a very emotional rendition of “Namo, Namo Matha” where almost everyone joined in. Formally declared open by the Mayor & The Health and Mass Media Minister Nalinda Jayatissa, they had aptly chosen as the Chief Guest, the renowned Dr Shashi Tharoor, (born 9 March 1956) An Indian politician, civil servant, public intellectual, diplomat, and bureaucrat, who has written more than 28 books.
The writer was deeply touched to absorb every word and nuance of his opening address which showed beyond doubt the unique skills of Dr Shashi Tharoor. His topic espoused the importance of the “Word” in human civilization, and he did it with such aplomb, all you could do was to nod in agreement. I do wish that all who read this can enjoy his natural talent, at least from a recording on the internet.
In addition to the festival, Dr. Shashi Tharoor visited the Colombo Public Library where he was hosted by Mayor Vraie Cally Balthazar showing him the Library Museum and the Archive of Memory exhibition.
The Mayor described the visit as a special occasion, noting Dr. Tharoor’s significant contributions to the literary world and expressing her pleasure at hosting him at one of Colombo’s most cherished public institutions.
As the Colombo Literary Festival is spread over 6 days the organizers have intelligently chosen the fields of Art, Music (including Opera), Visuals in film and plays, politics, poetry and many more. They have specialized in children’s themes, as well as some for Adults only. There are than 70 topics for which they have cleverly curated moderators and panelists, drawn from the vast array of Sri Lankans. A few of the examples are philanthropist Sunethra Bandaranaike, TV presenter Savithri Rodigo, Sports commentor Andrew Fidel Fernando and deep academics like Emeritus Professor’s Sumathy Sivamohan, Neloufer de Mel & Jagath Weerasinghe. They have not hesitated to include aspiring young historians like Avishka Senewiratne and Ashvin Weerasekera – a 14-year-old passionate reader who is a typical personification of youth showcasing adults! Displaying a non-national bias, are Zeki Demirkubuz (Turkiye), Christian Petzold (Germany-France), Tanvir Mokammel (Bangladesh), Kutti Revathy (India) & Amal Chatterjee (Netherlands.
Judging from the phenomenal success of the opening ceremony, this promises to be a groundswell. At the time of writing, it is still on the 5th day and promises full attendance to the end. If this festival reflects Sri Lankan values and aspirations, there is no doubt this country is headed in the right societal direction.
The writers only regret is that there was no prior Australian publicity which I am sure would have been gladly provided by e-Lanka – maybe next year will change and there will be a plethora of Australians as there are more than 160,000 Sri Lankans in Melbourne alone!
