Native name සිබිල් වෙත්තසිංහ Name Sybil Wettasinghe Religion Theravada Buddhism | Ethnicity Sinhalese Nationality Sri Lankan Role Writer | |
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Spouse(s) Don Dharmapala Wettasinghe Books The Umbrella Thief, How the Devil Ran Away Died July 1, 2020 (aged 93) | ||
Etv power women season 1 sybil wettasinghe part 1
Kala Keerthi Sybil Wettasinghe was a veteran children's book writer and an illustrator in Sri Lanka. Her books have been translated into several languages.
Contents
- Etv power women season 1 sybil wettasinghe part 1
- art of sybil wettasinghe exhibition opening at theertha red dot
- Early life
- Books
- Awards
- Death
- References
art of sybil wettasinghe exhibition opening at theertha red dot
Early life
Wettasinghe was born in 1928 and spent the first six years of her childhood in the village of Gintota, situated in the suburbs of Galle, in southern Sri Lanka. Then her family moved to Colombo where she entered into Holy Family Convent. At the age of 17 Wettasinghe joined Lankadeepa newspaper. In 1952, Wettasinghe moved to the much-coveted Lakehouse publications where she became the main illustrator of the Janatha newspaper. Her entry into Lakehouse gave access to an entire network of newspapers and she wrote and illustrated for the Sundayobserver, Silumina, Daily News and Sarasaviya. In 1955,she married Don Dharmapala Wettasinghe, the Chief Editor of all the Lakehouse Newspapers. She was a grandmother of five.
Books
In 1952, while working at the Janatha newspaper, Wettasinghe made her first attempt to write stories. She produced a narrative called Kuda Hora for the children's page of the newspaper. This story eventually developed into a book that won critical acclaim both locally and internationally. Inspired by the success of Kuda Hora, Wettasighe applied herself to writing as well as illustrating and proceeded to produce over 200 children's books over the course of her career. Most of her books have been translated into languages such as Japanese, Chinese, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, English, Korean, Dutch and Tamil.
Awards
During her career, Wettasinghe has won much international acclaim and her children's stories secured awards both in Europe and Asia. In 1965, her story 'Vesak Lantern' won an Isabel Hutton Prize for Asian Women writers for Children. Her first book 'Kuda Hora' was chosen for the Best Foreign Book Award in Japan in 1986 and in 1987 it won the Japanese Library Association Award as the most popular children's book. 'Kuda Hora' book was translated into seven languages (English, Norwegian, Danish, Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Swedish). Wettasinghe has held exhibitions of her work in Japan and Czechoslovakia and in 2003, she was invited to Norway for a book festival for well-known authors. Internationally her work has received high acclaim and attention, in particular for its distinctly vernacular themes and styles.
Death
