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Department of English

Faculty of Arts - University of Peradeniya

Dr. K.N. Dharmasiri

Senior Lecturer

B.A. (Peradeniya), M.A.(Massachusetts), Ph.D.(Massachusetts)

  •    Department of ENGLISH
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About Me

Kanchuka Dharmasiri is currently teaching in the Department of English, University of Peradeniya. She is a theatre director and translator.

Education

PhD

University of Massachusetts, USA

2014

MA

University of Massachusetts, USA

2008

BA

University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

2002

Current Positions

Senior Lecturer - Department of English, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

2017 - To Present

Positions Held

Lecturer - Department of Fine Arts,University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

2013 - 2017

Teaching Assistant and Teaching Associate - University of Massachusetts Amherst

2004 - 2012

French Instructor - Alliance Française of Kandy

1998 - 2002

Awards

Cornell South Asian Studies Fellowship - Cornell University

2020

State Literary Award for the Best Translated Play Script - Ministry of Cultural Affairs

2018

Graduate School Travel Grant - University of Massachusetts Amherst

2011

College of Humanities and Fine Arts Dissertation Fellowship - University of Massachusetts Amherst

2010

American Institute for Sri Lankan Studies Dissertation Planning Grant - American Institute for Sri Lankan Studies

2009

Leigh Smith Memorial Prize for English - University of Peradeniya

2002

E.F.C. Ludowyk Memorial Prize - University of Peradeniya

2002

Alliance Française Scholarship - Alliance Française of Kandy

2002

Leigh Smith Memorial Prize for English - University of Peradeniya

1999

Pettah Library Prize for English - University of Peradeniya

1999

M.F.Khan Prize for the Greatest Competence at the General Arts Qualifying Examination - University of Peradeniya

1999

Publications

BOOKS

• Performance in a Time of Terror: Five Sinhala Plays from Sri Lanka. Ed. Kanchuka Dharmasiri. Trans. Ranjini Obeyesekere. Routledge, 2021

https://www.routledge.com/Performance-in-a-Time-of-Terror-Five-Sinhala-Plays-from-Sri-Lanka/Dharmasiri/p/book/9780367625153

• Thatta Gaayikaawa (Translation of Eugène Ionesco’s La Cantatrice Chauve into Sinhala. Co-translator. Lohan Gunaweera). Baththaramulla: Neptune Publications, 2017

CHAPTERS IN BOOKS

Dharmasiri, K.N. (2017). Voices from the Therīgāthā: Framing Western Feminisms in Sinhala Translation.” Translating Women: Different Voices and New Horizons.Eds. Luise von Flotow & Farzaneh Farahzad, Routledge: New York, U.S.A.

Dharmasiri, K.N. (2016). Modern Theatre in Sri Lanka.”Routledge Handbook of Asian Theatre. Ed. Siyuan Liu, Routledge: New York, U.S.A.

Dharmasiri, K.N. (2015). From Narratives of Nations to Bloody Streets: Contemporary Sinhala and Tamil Theatre in Sri Lanka.” Mapping South Asia through Performance. Ed. Ashis Sengupta. Palgrave Macmillan: Hampshire, U.K.

Dharmasiri, K.N. (2010). “Space, Audience and Power in Wayside and Open Theatre Performances.” Tales About Hatha: Gamini Haththotuwegama Felicitation Volume. Ed. Athula Samarakoon & Sudesh Mantilleke. Arts Council, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Dharmasiri, K.N. (2014). Brecht in the Streets of Sri Lanka.”Translations.FondazioneUniversitaria San Pellegrino, Italy

Dharmasiri, K.N. (2010). Translation and the Emergence of a Modern Sinhala Theatre in a Postcolonial Context.The Mercurian: A Theatre Translation Review. Vol 2. No 4, University of North Carolina, U.S.A.

http://drama.unc.edu/academic/mercurian/themercurianvol2number4.pdf

Dharmasiri, K.N. (2010). Taking to the Streets: Intersections of Space, Audience, and Power in the Wayside and Open Theatre, Nethra Review. Vol 11. No 1. International Centre for Ethnic Studies, Colombo, Sri Lanka.

http://www.ices.lk/publications/nethra_featured4.shtml

TRANSLATION AND PUBLICATION OF BOOKS OF SCHOLARLY WORK

Dharmasiri, K.N. (2017). Children - Lost - Names (Sinhala to English. Co-translator. Harley Erdman). “Nam-Nethiwu-Lamai” by KumariKumaragamage. City5. City Press, Karachi

Dharmasiri, K.N. (2017). ThattaGaayikaawa (French to Sinhala. La Cantatrice Chauve. Eugene Ionesco. Co-translator. Lohan Gunaweera). Star Plus Publishers, Baththaramulla

Dharmasiri, K.N. (2012). Agni Opera.(Sinhala to English) Opera Vinisa, Eric Illayapparachchi. S. Godage: Colombo

CHIEF EDITOR/EDITOR

Dharmasiri, K.N. (2012). Streets Ahead with Haththotuwegama: A Collection of Articles by and about GaminiHaththotuwegama. Ed. Kanchuka Dharmasiri, Lohan Gunaweera & Nicole Calandra. Ravaya Publications: Maharagama, Sri Lanka

AUDIO / VIDEO / MULTIMEDIA PRODUCTIONS

365 Plays/365 Days by Susan Lori Parks. New WORLD Theater, Rooke Theater, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, USA, 2007

Subha, a devised theatrical creation based on Rabindranath Tagore’s short story, “Subha.” India and Sri Lanka, 2014-2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUP-uK_iJY8

• Nodutu Aes/Unseen Eyes, a devised play based on Bertolt Brecht’s and Kumari Kumaragamage’s poetry, Namel-Malini Punchi Theatre in Borella and E.O.E.Pereira Theatre at the University of Peradeniya, 2018-19

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyqv4yqVW84&t=18s

Tatta Gaayikawa, a Sinhala adaptation of Eugène Ionesco’s La Cantatrice Chauve, Sri Lanka, 2002-2016

Conferences

Region/Nation/Trans-Nation: Literature-Cinema Interface

“The Many Phases of Ravana: Transcreations and Revisionings of Ravana in a Post-Colonial Sri Lankan Context.”

Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani, Goa, a plenary talk, India

2019

Translation Studies: New Directions

“Translating for the Theatre: Rethinking Translation through Multiple Subject Positions.”

Savithribai Phule Pune University, India

2018

Asian Translation Traditions

“Translators and Directors in a Postcolonial Context”

Monash University Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,

2016

Rethinking Peace Studies Conference.

“Reflecting on the Politics and

International Christian University, Tokyo, Japan.

2016

Pluralingualism and Orality in Translation: Conference Festival.

“Translating with Bodies and Sounds: The Multilayered Translational Process in Theatre Practice.”

Indraprastha College for Women, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India.

2015

Colombo Theatre Forum for Directors

"The Multilayered Process of Devising Subha"

Goethe Institut, Colombo, Sri Lanka

2015

Research Interests

English Literature

Postcolonial theory and fiction

Modern Sri Lankan Theater

Political street theatre and alternative theatre

Feminism and early Buddhist women’s writing