State Literary Advisory Board of the Arts Council of Sri Lanka is established for the purpose of advising and assisting the Arts council on the general advancement of the literary art forms and to support the excellence, diversity and vitality of Sri Lankan literature in the languages of Sinhala, Tamil and English so that the public can experience the highest standard of literary art forms, in Sri Lanka.
Literature Panel of the Arts Council of Sri Lanka recognizes the importance of the promotion of the work by Sri Lankan writers both nationally and internationally to ensure Sri Lanka is recognized for its great writers and its quality contemporary writing.
Objectives of the Establishment of State Literary Advisory Board.
Principal role of this panel is to take action for the advancement of the literary work in all the three languages Sinhala, Tamil and English and conservation and development of literary work, Various programmes are annually implemented in order to achieve this objective.
- Holding State Literary Awards festival.
- Conducting lectures on literature in various parts of the island in order to enable school children and the public to appreciate literature.
- Conducting literary workshops in various parts of the island for promoting people’s appreciation of literary of short stories, novels, songs and poetry.
- Editing and publication of “Sahityaya” magazine. This magazine is published quarterly embodying article from scholars. Special literary volume is concurrently published to mark the state literary festival.
Structure of the State Literary Advisory Board
- Sinhala Literary Panel
- Tamil Literary Panel
- English Literary Panel
State Literary Advisory board which had 3 panels from 1957, now functions as a single Panel from 2004.
State Literary Awards Results
State Literary Awards Results – 2013
State Literary Awards Results – 2014
State Literary Awards Results – 2015
State Literary Awards Results – 2016
State Literary Awards Results – 2020
Ven. Rambukkana Siddhartha Thero
Chair-person
Ven. Rambukkana Siddhartha Thero has been appointed as a Chair-person of Literature advisory board of Arts Council of Sri Lanka.
Ven. Rambukkana Siddhartha Thero has been using `song’ to deliver the great message of dhamma. A lot remains to be said about the literary work of this `Sindu liyana Hamuduruvo’ (the priest who writes songs) which he does without any lucrative expectation, but out of sheer enthusiasm for art which he mingles with his conviction in Dhamma.
Siddhartha Thera has studied in several Pirivenas including Sunethradevi Pirivena, Pepiliyana, Colombo, and graduated from the University of Kelaniya in Buddhist Philosophy (Sp. Hons).
He studied Mass Communication as an auxiliary subject. He also worked for Lake House Sinhala publications such as Silumina and Navayugaya, for a brief period, on a voluntary basis.
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Senior Prof. Upul Ranjith Hewawitanagamage
Vice Chairman
Senior Professor
Senior Prof. Upul Ranjith Hewawitanagamage has been appointed as a member of State Literature advisory board of Arts Council of Sri Lanka.
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Krishantha Fedricks
Member
Senior Lecturer
S. Muralitharan
Member
Director of Education
Subramaniampillai Muralitharan is currently serving as Director of Education (Tamil schools Development/ Peace Education and Reconciliation Unit) in the Ministry of Education, Sri Lanka. Formerly he was very much associated with teacher training and teacher education being Principal of Teachers’ College, President of National College of Education and Director of Teacher Education Administration. He holds B.Sc (Hons) Peradeniya, M.Ed from York University- Canada, and earned Postgraduate Diplomas from University of Jayawardenepura, University of Peradeniya and University of Colombo. The vast literary scope he has acquired through studies and international forums in many countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, Germany, Korea and India, has made an expertise in his area.
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Sirisena Vithanage
Member
Author
Piyal Kariyawasam
Member
Writer/Author
Sumudu Chathurani Jayawardena
Member
Journalist/Author
Editor - "Sathmadala" magazine at Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited,
Lecturer at Sri Lanka Press Council
Lecturer at SLTTI
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Ranga Manupriya
Member
Lecturer
Lecturer Ranga Manupriya has been appointed as a member of Literature advisory board of Arts Council of Sri Lanka.
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Dr. Kaushalya Perera
Member
Senior Lecturer
Dr. Kaushalya Perera is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of English, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, where she teach linguistics courses. Prior to this, she served at the University of Kelaniya for 15 years, moving to the University of Colombo in 2018. My teaching experience includes designing and teaching courses in English as a Second Language as well as other linguistics courses in the fields of language acquisition (by children and adults) and social aspects of language such as language and identity.
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Dr. Jagath Bandara Pathirage
Member
Lecturer
Jagath Bandara Pathirage, completed his first degree in sociology at the University of Colombo in Sri Lanka and MSc in social anthropology at the University of Edinburgh in UK. He was a research consultant for the University of Sussex in UK from 2007-to 2008 and then a senior research fellow at MARGA institute in Sri Lanka from 2008- 2011. He holds a teaching position at Department of Sociology at the University of Colombo. He is also a Research Fellow At Northern Institute at Charles Darwin University
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Prof. Bihesh Indika Sampath
Member
Professor in Sinhala
Prof. Bihesh Indika Sampath has been appointed as a member of Literature advisory board of Arts Council of Sri Lanka.
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Prof. Latha Gurusinghe
Member
Senior Lecturer
Professor Latha Gurusinghe is at present a Senior Lecturer of the Department of Sinhala, University of Colombo. She has also served as the Head of the Department of Sinhala. Further she has made her contribution for State Literary Award ceremonies as one of the prominent member in the Judge panel for considerable years. She obtained her bachelor's degree with first class honours. M.A (Kelaniyain phil (Colombo) and ph.D (Colombo) up to now she has published so many academic writings. Furthermore she is a renowned researcher in Feminism literature and also she has engage in a lot of academic works related to modern Sinhala Literature.
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Professor Srivaratharajan Pirashanthan
Executive Committee Member
Professor
Professor Srivaratharajan Pirashanthan has been appointed as a Executive Committee Member of Arts Council of Sri Lanka by Mr. Vidura Wickramanayake Hon. Minister of Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs. Also he is a member of Literary Advisory Board.
Prof. Srivaratharajan Pirashanthan, a senior lecturer in Tamil, received his primary education at Kopay Navalar Vidyalayam and secondary education at Jaffna Hindu College. Subsequently, he completed his undergraduate and postgraduate degrees at the University of Peradeniya. He obtained the PhD in Tamil from Annamalai University, India in 2011 under the Cultural Exchange Programme Scholarship by Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India.
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Indika Wijewardena
Secretary
Cultural Development Assistant
Saman Vijitha Kumara
Assistant Secretary
Development Officer
Mr. Saman Vijitha Kumara has been appointed as a Assistant Secretary of Literature Advisory Board.
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R. M. Sanjaya Bandara Rajapaksha
Assistant Secretary
Development Officer
Mr. R.M. Sanjaya Bandara Rajapaksha has been appointed as a Assistant Secretary of Literature Advisory Board.
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