Ten publications when Samskrti turns 20

The 20th anniversary of the publication of Samskrti, the premier Sinhala journal of literary criticism and cultural and social comment, falls this year.

The journal looks forward with great enthusiasm to a new life (jivodaya) during the next 10 years, for which plans have been worked out. Two issue of Volume 20 have been published and two more issues of Samskrti (Volume 20 No. 3 and No. 4 September and December, 2009) are yet to come. Six other new publications have been designed to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Samskrti. Sellam Geya, translated into Sinhala by Amaradasa Virasinha and Gananath Obeyasekera from Henrik Ibsen's 'A Doll's House' is unrivalled in its excellence of translation and the value of the long introduction to the play and to the work's creator. This is the first of the 20th anniversary celebration volumes.

The second is the Vishvavidyala Adhyapana Vishesha Ankaya (Universities, Special Number), hugely successful when it first appeared and now has been revised by Usvatte-aratch and Susil Siriwardena and reprinted with a new introduction laying out the principal questions which Samskrti plans to write about in an entirely new special issue on universities.

The third is a collection of essays written by Amaradasa Virasinha to Samskrti over the years and carries the title Kedapathak Neti Jatiya (An Unreflecting Nation). The essays deal with several national questions. The forth is Avajata Adyapanaya (A Bastard Education), a collection of essays written by Amaradasa Virasingha. These volumes are in print and available for purchase.

The fifth, Sinhala Natya Hadarima, Keti Handinvimak, (A Brief Introduction to the Study of Sinhala Drama) also written by Amaradasa Virasinha will be in print in November 2009. The final volume in the series is a complete index by author and title of articles of all papers that have been published in the first 20 volumes of Samskrti. The index was prepared by Usvatte-aratch and D.S.L.Jayakody and is an essential companion to all working in Sinhala cultural studies and major social phenomena during the last eventful 60 years. It will go on sale in November.

The editors of Samskrti invite you to join in this excitement. Here are opportunities for you to write to the journal, for you join the editorial team and to partake in the organization of variegated activities of Samskrti.

In the minimum enjoy reading the material on offer. Their telephone number is 0112519201, except September 19-26, when they will be at the kiosk BL-1-350 at the International Book Fair and Exhibition at BMICH.

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