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May 30, 2006
Saluting Nihal de Silva
On 31.01.06, I posted an article on this website about the writings of a Sri Lankan author, Nihal de Silva, which were remarkable for their originality of tone and style, and beautifully even handed and balanced in portraying the strife and civil war in Sri Lanka. It is therefore with a heavy heart that I read about his recent death.
"Seven people were killed on Saturday as three powerful land mines blasted while a group of tourists were visiting the National Park in a double-cab.....The victims were identified as Darel Perera, Nihal de Silva, Nanadana Abeysuriya, Endista Abeysuriya, Chandi Asirwadan, Anula Asirwadan and Anura Dissanayake." BBC 29.05.06
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sinhala/news/story/2006/05/060529_wilpattu_ltte.shtml
Nihal de Silva was the author of The Road From Elephant Pass, A Far Spent Day, and The Giniralla Conspiracy. It is unsurprising that he was visiting Wilpattu National Park given his love for Sri Lanka's forests and wildlife, which came through very clearly in all his novels. His death is a great loss on many levels, not least amongst them on the Sri Lankan literary scene, where his clear, distinctive writing voice was growing from strength to strength.
Posted by Lisa Lau at May 30, 2006 04:39 AM
Comments
Lisa, is it confirmed that this is the same person? I don't know how common the name is...
Posted by: Mary Anne Mohanraj ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.desilit.org/weblog/nav-commenters.gif)
at May 30, 2006 07:29 AM
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