The Modern Novel

Biography

Martin Wickramasinghe was born in Koggala, in the South of Sri Lanka, in 1890. He studied Sinhalese as a young child but later learned English, in which he became fluent. When his father died when he was eleven he returned to the Sinhalese school. He left school aged sixteen and worked as a book-keeper. After his mother’s death, he took up writing, publishing his first novel in his early twenties. He subsequently worked as a journalist and later became a newspaper editor. His best-known novel, ගම්පෙරළිය (The Uprooted) Part 1: (The Village) was published in 1944 and is considered the first serious Sri Lankan novel. He continued to write, published literary criticism, novels and poetry. He travelled extensively, visiting the United Kingdom, India, China, Cuba and the Soviet Union. He died in 1976.

Other links

His official website
Martin Wickramasinghe
Martin Wickramasinghe
Martin Wickramasinghe
Martin Wickramasinghe
Martin Wickramasinghe Folk Museum, Koggala