Vijita Fernando
Encyclopedia
Vijita Fernando is a Sri Lanka
n journalist
, translator and fiction writer. She was a winner of the Gratiaen Prize
and has received Sri Lanka’s State Literary Award
.
, she worked for over thirty years at the Ceylon Daily News, where she was a feature writer, editor of the women’s page and the children’s page. Now she is a correspondent to Women’s Feature Service (WFS), a network of women journalists worldwide writing from a woman’s perspective, with offices in New York
, Manila
, Rome
and Delhi
. She also contributes to the health and science page of IslamOnline
, a news and development website based in Cairo
, in addition to contributing regularly to local English language
newspapers.
While working at the Daily News she began translating Sinhala short stories for the Arts Page: nearly a hundred of her translations appeared in the Daily News in the 1960s and 70s. Her interest persisted, and now she has translated and published five Sinhala novels into English.
A collection of women’s short stories Women Writing: Translations also won a State Literary Award in 2002. Her translation of two novels by the novelist Gunadasa Amarasekara, Out of the Darkness, won the 2003 Gratiaen Prize and a State Literary Award in 2004.
She also writes her own fiction. She has published two collections of short stories, Eleven Stories (1985) and Once, on a Mountainside (1995), and two children’s stories in English, The Kitemaker and A Civet Cat in Our Well! More recently she published with Sybil Wettasinghe two collections of folk tales based on Andare and Mahadenamutta retold in English, with illustrations by Sybil.
She is the current chairperson of the Centre for Family Services, the NGO pioneered by Dr Manoranee Saravanamuttu for women and children affected by conflict. She is a member of SLACLALS, the English Writers’ Cooperative, and the Sri Lanka Federation of University Women.
She lives in Welikadawatte
, the intellectual community co-founded by her late husband, B.J.B. ("Bonny") Fernando.
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
n journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, translator and fiction writer. She was a winner of the Gratiaen Prize
Gratiaen Prize
The Gratiaen Prize is an annual literary prize for best work of literary writing in English by a resident Sri Lankan. It was founded in 1992 by the Sri Lankan-born Canadian novelist Michael Ondaatje with the money he received as joint-winner of the Booker Prize for his novel The English Patient...
and has received Sri Lanka’s State Literary Award
State Literary Award
The State Literary Award is a set of annual literary prizes by the Government of Sri Lanka under several categories. The awards cover fiction, poetry, translations, songs and cover designs. Works from Sinhala, Tamil and English language are reviewed....
.
Biography
After graduating from the University of CeylonUniversity of Ceylon
The University of Ceylon was the only university in Sri Lanka from 1942 until 1972. It had several constituent campuses at various locations around Sri Lanka. The University of Ceylon Act No. 1 of 1972, replaced it with the University of Sri Lanka which existed from 1973 to 1978. In 1978 it was...
, she worked for over thirty years at the Ceylon Daily News, where she was a feature writer, editor of the women’s page and the children’s page. Now she is a correspondent to Women’s Feature Service (WFS), a network of women journalists worldwide writing from a woman’s perspective, with offices in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, Manila
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
, Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
and Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
. She also contributes to the health and science page of IslamOnline
IslamOnline
Islamonline is a global Islamic website on the Internet providing services to Muslims and non-Muslims in several languages. Its motto is "credibility and distinction." Sunni Muslim scholar....
, a news and development website based in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, in addition to contributing regularly to local English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
newspapers.
While working at the Daily News she began translating Sinhala short stories for the Arts Page: nearly a hundred of her translations appeared in the Daily News in the 1960s and 70s. Her interest persisted, and now she has translated and published five Sinhala novels into English.
A collection of women’s short stories Women Writing: Translations also won a State Literary Award in 2002. Her translation of two novels by the novelist Gunadasa Amarasekara, Out of the Darkness, won the 2003 Gratiaen Prize and a State Literary Award in 2004.
She also writes her own fiction. She has published two collections of short stories, Eleven Stories (1985) and Once, on a Mountainside (1995), and two children’s stories in English, The Kitemaker and A Civet Cat in Our Well! More recently she published with Sybil Wettasinghe two collections of folk tales based on Andare and Mahadenamutta retold in English, with illustrations by Sybil.
She is the current chairperson of the Centre for Family Services, the NGO pioneered by Dr Manoranee Saravanamuttu for women and children affected by conflict. She is a member of SLACLALS, the English Writers’ Cooperative, and the Sri Lanka Federation of University Women.
She lives in Welikadawatte
Welikadawatte
Welikadawatte, a middle-class housing estate in Rajagiriya, Sri Lanka was a result of the first co-operative housing scheme in Sri Lanka.In the mid-1950s, Dr. Seneka Bibile, together with Herbert Keuneman, 'Bonnie' Fernando, Anil and Jeanne Moonesinghe and other members of the radical...
, the intellectual community co-founded by her late husband, B.J.B. ("Bonny") Fernando.