[home] [news] [this year's award] [publishers] [libraries] [award archive] [faqs] [dublin city public libraries] [IMPAC] [contact us]

The 2011 Award

 

Wijesinghe

Theravada Man

by Manuka Wijesinghe

 

 

 

Nominated by:

  • Colombo Public Library, Sri Lanka.

 

Publisher of Nominated Edition:

Perara Hussein Publishing House, Sri Lanka

The complete A-Z listing of nominated authors
ABOUT THE BOOK

  
Following the success of her first novel Monsoons and Potholes, Manuka Wijesinghe digs deeper into the history and psyche of her native Sri Lanka with the story of a village schoolmaster who finds his unwavering faith in Theravada Buddhism and the British educational system challenged by the irrational forces of astrology, numerology, mythology and human desire. Told with characteristic passion and humour, the story combines a satirical take on the Sinhala myth with a healthy dose of its own brand of mysticism. Manuka’s strengths are her unique narrative voice, her playwright’s ear for dialogue, and her idiosyncratic perspective on her nation’s history and culture.

(From Publisher).
 

 
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Manuka Wijesinghe was born in Colombo in the heyday of non-alignment. Never being a devotee of regimented schooling she spent her classroom days dreaming or playing blind man's bluff with test papers. Yet she did have an unvoiced passion- not writing, but the love of traditional dance. As life seems to make strange meandering journeys, motivated more by Karma than the will of self, she completed school, entered university, got a degree, danced, did a job, gave birth to kids and sometime before entering the twilight zone realized she had a story to tell, A never-ending tale decorated with word in any available language.

 

LIBRARIAN'S COMMENTS

An intriguing story written with an Austenian wit, about a village school master, who finds his unwavering faith in Gheravada Buddhism, by the irrational forces of astrology, mythology and human desire.

 

[home] [news] [this year's award] [publishers] [libraries] [award archive] [dublin city public libraries] [IMPAC] [faqs] [contact us]

Copyright © 2010 Dublin City Public Libraries