Out Of Sri Lanka: Tamil, Sinhala And English Poetry From Sri Lanka And Its Diasporas

Sri Lanka has thrilled the foreign imagination as a land of infinite
possibility. Portuguese, Dutch and British colonisers envisioned an island of
gems and pearls, a stopping-point on the Silk Road; tourists today are sold a
vision of golden beaches and swaying palm trees, delicious food and smiling
locals. This favours the south of the island over the north rebuilt piecemeal
after the end of the civil war in 2009, and erases a history of war crimes, illicit
assassination of activists and journalists, subjugation of minorities, and a
legacy of governmental corruption that has now led the country into
economic and social crisis. This first ever anthology of Sri Lankan and
diasporic poetry features over a hundred poets writing in English, or
translated from Tamil and Sinhala. It brings to light a long-neglected national
literature, and reshapes our understanding of migrational poetics and the
poetics of atrocity. There are poems here about love, art, nature – and others
exploring critical events: the Marxist JVP insurrections of the 1970s and 80s,
the 2004 tsunami and its aftermath, recent bombings linked with the
demonisation of Muslim communities. A poetry of witness challenges those
who would erase, rather than enquire into, the country’s troubled past. This
anthology affirms the imperative to remember, whether this relates to folk
practices suppressed by colonisers, or more recent events erased from the
record by Sinhalese nationalists.