30 Tuesday Nov 2010
Posted in Event
30 Tuesday Nov 2010
Posted in Event
09 Tuesday Nov 2010
Posted in Interview
Tags
fiction, Karen Roberts, novel, Perera Hussein Publishing House, sri lanka, The Lament of the Dhobi Woman
By Indu Bandara
Author of “Flower Boy”, “July” and now “The Lament of the Dhobi Woman”, Karen Roberts gives us insight into her third book, as well as the stories that she feels must be told, especially about Sri Lankan society and its inner workings. A participant at the 2011 Galle Literary Festival, she tells us about her favourite writers and what Literature and the Arts mean to her country and its future
Tell us about your latest book/work
The title “The Lament of the Dhobi Woman” is a metaphor for dirty laundry. The book is about the relationship between a wealthy Colombo family and a young, village girl who comes to work for them as an ayah. She forges a strong, almost maternal bond with the young girl she cares for, but ultimately falls victim to the sophistication and guile of the upper class Fonsekas. It is ultimately a story about growing up.
What inspires you to write? What/who have been your influences?
I am inspired by social and cultural issues, but also by Sri Lanka in general. My first book was begun almost as a hobby. Its success motivated me to write more and that too becomes inspiring – the fact that my readers look forward to what I put out next. My family has always been encouraging of my writing and that helps too – knowing one has that kind of unstinting support. My influences have been Garcia Marquez, Harper Lee, and Dickens – they are some of the great storytellers and that, ultimately, is what we do. Tell stories.
Why do you write? Is there a particular message that you aim to convey?
I write because it is as intrinsic to me as reading. I began my first book and found I loved writing. I have ideas in my mind and stories that demand telling. I don’t have a particular message except the one that takes hold of me at the time – I find I write mainly about social issues, class divides, relationships and their challenges. This isn’t deliberate – it seems to be what comes most easily.
You are taking part in the Galle Literary Festival 2011. Why do you think this festival is important and how does it contribute to Sri Lankan society and the Arts?
I think the GLF is a huge step forward in promoting literature and the arts in Sri Lanka, and also in putting Sri Lanka firmly on the world’s literary map. The organizers have done an incredible job in attracting real international talent to Galle, and also helping encourage and launch some serious local talent. The festival, combined with the efforts of local publishers like Perera-Hussein Publishing has done wonders for local writers and Asian literature. 
What particular stories about Sri Lanka and its society do you think need to be written, which have not been done yet?
There are so many – we have a rich, colourful history, we have a checkered political past, we have wonderful ethnicity, all contained within a small country. There is much fodder for fertile minds! I also think we have many interesting individuals who have shaped our past and present in many ways – their stories need to be told too.
Who are your favourite authors (Sri Lankan in particular), and why?
I love Shyam Selvadurai for his courage – writing about being gay in a relatively conservative society isn’t easy but he did it with grace and humour. I love Yasmine Gooneratne – her work has an elegance and eloquence I admire and shamelessly emulate. I also love Carl Muller for his railway saga. He writes with historical and cultural accuracy, spins wonderful yarns of a group of people who were such a vital part of the Sri Lankan story, and does it with a marvelous combination of humour and pathos.
Do you think the fields of Arts and Humanities have proper exposure in Sri Lanka? What needs to changed or improved, in your opinion?
I think we are on the right road. Sri Lanka has always encouraged the arts. We put on some of the best productions and have produced some incredible talent. We need more of this in schools – events like the Shakespeare Drama Competition help expose our kids to literature early on and we need to keep fostering this on an on-going basis.
What can up and coming Sri Lankan writers do to get their work recognized on a national/international level?
Compete on an international level – think local and act global. Make sure your work is fresh, that your writing is good, get opinions, accept constructive criticism – in other words, make sure you have the goods. Then don’t be afraid to approach international literary agents and publishers. They are constantly looking for talent from smaller, more exotic countries and we have a definite advantage. Some of the recent winners of the Pulitzer and the Man Booker have been Asian writers.
What advice would you give to young people pursuing a career similar to yours?
Keep writing, be relevant, be concise, be topical, and don’t let rejection demotivate you. Some of the world’s greatest writers were rejected over and over again before being published. Keep at it.
Anything else you would like to add.
One can write a great book, find a great agent and publisher, but eventually for a writer to be successful, he or she needs a following, an audience. I’d like to thank my readers for staying with my work; for the great feedback and reviews. Please keep it coming – we need to know what we’re doing right. Or not.
This interview first appeared in The Colombo Spirit http://spirit.lk/cathome.php?nid=20101109121031&cid=7&aid=2&scid=20
04 Thursday Nov 2010
Posted in Interview, Uncategorized
Tags
author, fiction, Galle Literary Festival, Manuka Wijesinghe, Monsoons and Potholes, novels, Perera Hussein Publishing House, Sri Lankan fiction, Sri Lankan writer, Theravada Man, writer
Tell us about work.
I have been working on a trilogy the last fifteen years or more. The idea of a trilogy came to my head only during the writing of the second book, “Theravada Man”, and I just completed the final part, which is the middle part dealing with Ceylon since Independence and ending with the mutation leading to the ‘72 Republic. Basically my books are extremely political, extremely sarcastic, and full of humour. I believe we Lankans have a ‘lightness of being’, which is not found in many cultures, certainly not in India hence I tend to prioritize that.The first book, “Theravada Man”, is set in the absolute backwaters of Wayamba during colonialism and begins around the 1920s and ends with the Second World War. It is the tale of a pious Theravada ‘iskolemahathtaya’ who on contemplating a tingling desire for a woman (which he tries to substantiate in marriage), is suddenly thrown into a world he did not know existed. It is the world known as the Greater Dharma. In involves the world beyond the rational Theravada piety and its ethics. It is a family tale of a marriage, which is not easy with a pious Theravadin who is strict, pedantic and lacking the trivial that gives life the joy of human existence.
The next book, with the subjective title “Sinhala Only”, begins with Svabhasha and the end of the war and independence. It deals with the rising of Sinhala only militantism and ends with the JVP insurrection of 1971. It deals with the mistakes made by our politicians whose sacrificial lambs are the nation’s youth.
“Monsoons and Potholes” the last of the trilogy, which has been selling since the last five or six years, begins in the 1963 and ends with the ‘83 riots. It’s an urban book where the protagonist is a young girl, born in ‘63 who relates the political idiocies with the characteristic humor of urban irreverence and irrelevance.
Basically the three books, though they have a strong political strand, the protagonists are different and the viewpoints are different. In the last book the protagonist is a missionary school educated girl after Sinhala only. In the second book the protagonists have a varying background. One is an Anglican, the other is the iskolemahathtaya’s son, and then there is a Jaffna Tamil and Colombo Tamil.
My books deal with the pluralistic culture, a tolerant society, heaps and heaps of humour and the absurdity of politics. With its myopia or deliberate megalomania begins the demise of civil society, that probably would function perfectly normally if they would not interfere.
What was the hardest part of writing your books?
The hardest part of writing is that of functioning outside the book. I tend to carry my characters around with me all the time, no matter what I am doing and since I have another profession and commitments other than writing (which I do for joy more than anything else), it is sometimes hard to concentrate on other dimensions when a book is waiting to be written. It consumes a lot of time and since I do not have so much time, I have been disciplined in the last fifteen or more years waking nearly daily at about 4 or 5 am and keeping a disciplined routine.What has been your greatest challenge as a writer? How have you overcome this?
I do not know if I have a challenge like that. I do not categorize myself as a writer. Writing to me is like women who remove their ear studs and wear glittery dangly earrings when they go out. It is an ornament which I rejoice in.
What made you start writing? Did you always want to be a writer?
NO. God knows how I started. I was always an avid reader and I think when my first child was born I needed some compensatory mechanism for not losing myself in the eternal lamentations of motherhood. I saw it as a quotidianal task but was surrounded with women who made a PhD thesis out of it. I guess I started writing in order to not sink into the same well. And needless to say, I married a man who thought I should sink in milk bottles and diapers and I revolted.
You are taking part in the Galle Literary Festival 2011. Why do you think this festival is important and how does it contribute to Sri Lankan society and the Arts?
I think the festival in extremely important for we do not have a (creative) reading or writing culture in the country. We tend to love impersonating others, rather than searching out our own worth, and finally we are an island cut away from the trends of societal buzz. Hence I believe the festival succeeds in opening us to other currents and for a short sojourn in our geography, taking from us the frog in the well mentality. I think this is a perfect opportunity of the uniting of languages, ethnicities and cultures and like I said earlier, we have linguistic nationalism more than any other kind of nationalism in the country. A festival like this is good for the agglutination of the people and making is (islanders) realize that we are more similar than dissimilar (due to geography for history has been created by those who had an interest in hegenony).Who are your favourite authors (Sri Lankan in particular), and why?
Ameena Hussein and Shyam Selvadurai. I love their styles, their simplicity and their clarity. They write in a way I just cannot, and I enjoy reading their books for that reason. I am burdened with a million things, their literature on the other hand give priority to the marvel of human creation; language.
What books are you reading now?
Oh god, I read about three books simultaneously. The three books right now are ‘The Age of Faith’ by Will Durant, ‘History of the Bible’ by Karen Armstrong and a biography of Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan populist leader.If you were not a writer, what might you be doing?
I am an alternative medical practitioner. I work with acupuncture, homeopathy, pranic healing and hypnosis.
Who do you consider a mentor? What inspires you to keep writing?
Life is my mentor. I rejoice in it. Every time I take one step and fall, I get up and walk three steps. But the person who made me appreciate the written word was one of my professors at University. She taught Spanish and she took me into the world of magical realism whose gods are the likes of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. And, Marquez is undoubtedly my all time favorite in fiction
What advice would you give to young people pursuing a career similar to yours?
Don’t give up. Trust yourself. Be honest with yourself. There is a lot of jealousy and introspection in the world. Listen, take what you have to, and leave the rest and progress. Write, write and write. Talent is the small detail, and the rest is just hard work. If you have a dream pursue it, don’t expect anyone else to give it to you.
This interview first appeared in The Colombo Spirit http://www.spirit.lk/cathome.php?nid=20101103135031&cid=7&aid=2&scid=20
