On the 16th and 17th of October 2021 I was selected to take part in an online writing workshop which was organized by The Gratiaen Trust. This Trust was founded by Michael Ondaatje in 1992 to support writers in Sri Lanka to develop the art of writing, help them find identity through literature and predominantly, recognize and promote works of English Literature produced by Sri Lankan authors.

The workshop consisted of  30 participants and 3 mentors -Lal Medawattegedera, Delon Weerasinghe, Prashani Rambukwella. All 3 of them had won the ‘Gratiaen Prize’ in previous years. Every mentor had to work with 10 candidates and I had the privilege to work in Mr. Lal’s Group. We started with a casual discussion, talking about the structure, techniques and styles used when writing a short story. Deeper into this discussion, he told us that we had to create an excerpt of a short story and present it the next day to a panel of judges who would comment and offer feedback regarding my excerpt. This was a task that each candidate had to perform, so we collectively started working on how each one of us could create an exceptional excerpt.

Mr. Lal spoke about many things during the time we had with him, including how to capture the audience’s attention through the first few sentences of your story, how to make rational yet creative and imaginative plots etc. I’m sure everyone would agree that all of this would come in handy when writing. However, he also spoke about how we one write about realities they know of and have experienced in their lives because that is the best way to connect with your readers. He spoke about this in relation to how we as Sri Lankans should incorporate Sri Lankan cultures and heritage into our stories instead of basing our stories in foreign countries such as America, Britain etc.

This workshop made me realize the importance of writing about contexts native to us and how I could incorporate the rich, eccentric cultures and heritage Sri Lanka has to offer into my own writing and how that could bring a sense of individuality and uniqueness into my writing in the future.

On Sunday, I had to read out my excerpt to the judges and I got pretty good feedback. The excerpt was based on a story of how a modern, young Sri Lankan female from a privilege class in society discovers that her father had been meeting up with a Vedehami (tribal doctor) to cure his lower body paralysis using pre-historic tribal rituals and medicines.

It was good to get feedback from 3 experienced Lankan authors who knew their stuff! Overall this workshop broadened my perspective of creative writing, developed my writing skills and it shed some light on how you just need a germ of an idea to create something beautiful. I also learnt how I as a Sri Lankan should incorporate Lankan cultures, values and heritage into my own writing in order to connect and relate with the people of this country.

LO1- Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth

citing –   https://www.gratiaen.com/

https://www.gratiaen.com/archives/write-back-the-facilitators