Sri Lanka Reading Resources
We are reading books about Sri Lanka and learning about its culture and history as part of From and About Asia Reading Project in May, 2022. This resource page is where I record and document the readings. It will keep updating while our readings go along. Due to the different pace that our members read, this page may keep updating afterward as well.
Last updated April 18th, 2022.
EVENT: FROM AND ABOUT ASIA READING PROJECT
SUBREGION: SOUTHERN ASIA
READING MONTH: MAY 2022
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Sri Lanka is always a mysterious and interesting country to me ever since I first knew about it when I was 7 years old. It has rich culture. Historically, Sri Lanka had a lot of connection with ancient China and started to do business with ancient China dating back to before Common Era.
It also has a long history of colonization by western countries such as Portugal and Netherlands. It was ruled by Britain from 1815 to 1948. Many people from the west moved to Sri Lanka and developed their own communities living along with the local communities like Sinhalese, Tamils, Moors and more. And today, Sri Lanka is a multinational state with diverse communities, religions and culture.
Before 2009, Sri Lanka went through thirty years of Civil War which put people’s lives in danger. So a lot of the books from and about Sri Lanka are about the Civil War. After the Civil War ends, many people traveled to Sri Lanka to learn about its culture, so we can see a lot of nonfictions talking about their traveling experience written by people from other countries.
CLICK ON BOOK COVERS WILL DIRECT YOU TO DETAILS OF THE BOOKS!
LGBTQ FICTION
Shyam Selvadurai is a Sri Lankan-Canadian novelist who was born in Colombo, to a Sinhalese mother and a Tamil father. The conflict ethnic background of his form a major theme of his work, including these three books.
HISTORICAL FICTION
Sri Lanka’s Civil War lasted for thirty years and ended in 2009. This period of history inspired many historical fiction books that are telling stories of people who’s lives are influenced or changed by it. As a historical fiction lover, I am immediately intrigued by some of these titles especially the ones that show women’s lives like Island of a Thousand Mirrors.
Other Fictions
I was happy to find out some mysteries books by Sri Lanka writers for example Chats with the Dead where the protegnist needs to solve a murder mystery of himself after he died, and he even didn’t know how he died! The setting sounds really fun and exciting.
NON-
FICTIONS
history
The Civil War left permeant marks in Sri Lankan society. There are many nonfiction talking about this period of history, and also some studies the aftershock of it. Such us the discrimination Tamil people are facing after the Civil War ended.
Memoirs
Wave is on one of my TBRs for Sri Lanka. It’s one of a few books that’s not related to the Civil War I found during my research, it’s talking about the author’s experience losing her family in the tsunami in 2004. It’s a heartbreaking memoir that requires a little of emotional preparation. Besides it, A Year In Green Tea and Tuk-Tuks also deals with tsunami but has a much lighter tone.
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Image of Sri Lanka by Darua Dyachenko from Unplashed.