Biography
Senath Walter Perera , Senior Professor in English, had his primary and secondary education at Trinity College Kandy before completing an honours degree in English at the University of Peradeniya . He subsequently obtained his MA and PhD in Canada. He has spent two sabbaticals in the US besides travelling extensively to judge literary awards and to attend, workshops, seminars, and conferences. His publications have appeared in several journals in Sri Lanka and overseas.
Publications
- “‘The Hopes, the Aspirations, the Guilt Embedded in Our Broken Lives: Romesh Gunesekera’s Noontide Toll” Asiatic 11.1 (2017):143-156.
- Critical Introduction to and Bibliography of Sri Lankan Writing in English for 2015 Journal of Commonwealth Literature 51.4 (December 2016) 685-699.
- “Portrayals of the ‘Common’ Poor as [Un]common Wealth in the Sri Lankan Novel of Expatriation.” SARE (South East Asian Review of English) 52 (2014/15): 18-28.
- “Devotees, Dissidents, Sceptics and Romantics in the Sri Lankan Campus Novel in English: A Study of The Days We Wished Would Never End, An English Education and The Ginirälla Conspiracy” South Asian Review 33.3 (2012): 217-38.
- "Dismissive Diaries, Desiccated Journeys and Reductive Fictions: Sri Lanka in the Writings of Donald Friend, Shiva Naipaul and Julian West” Journeys: The International Journal of Travel and Travel Writing Special Issue on South Asia 10.1 (2009): 82-106.
- “Criticism in Africa: The Hostility and Contradictions Continue.” The Writer as Myth Maker: South Asian Perspectives on Wole Soyinka. Ed. Bernth Lindfors and Bala Kothandaraman. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2004. 232-42.
- "The Colonial Officer/Settler: A Recurring Figure in Ngugi's Fiction." The Writer As Activist: South Asian Perspectives on Ngugi wa Thiong'o . Ed. Bala Kothandaraman and Bernth Lindfors. Trenton, New Jersey & Asmara, Eritrea: Africa World Press, 2001. 61-72.
- “Some Response to Colonial/Neocolonial Education in In the Castle of My Skin, Petals of Blood, and Funny Boy” The Sri Lanka Journal of the Humanities 26 (2000) 1&2. 62-87.
- "From ‘A Wholesome Synthesis of East and West' to a ‘Game of Profitable Mutual Seduction’: Two Novels by Yasmine Gooneratne." Navasilu: The Journal of the English Association of Sri Lanka 17 (2000): 75-93.
- "Attempting the Sri Lankan Novel of Resistance and Reconciliation: A. Sivanandan's When Memory Dies." The Sri Lanka Journal of the Humanities 23 1&2 (1997): 13-27.
- "Images of Sri Lanka Through Expatriate Eyes: Romesh Gunesekera's Reef" Journal of Commonwealth Literature 30.1 (1995): 63-78.
- "Towards a Limited Emancipation: Women in Kanthapura." Ariel: A Review of International English Literatures 23.4 (1992): 99-110.
- "From Mumbi to Wanja: The Emergence of the Woman in the Novels of Ngugi wa Thiong'o." Commonwealth: Essays and Studies 14.2 (1992): 69-77.
Memberships and Awards
- Member Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka
- Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies
- Trinity College Kandy Prize for Education 2008, Awarded by TCK, OBA
- 2005 Fulbright Advanced Research Fellowship to Cornell University 2005
- Fulbright Senior Research Fellowship to Virginia Tech 1995;
- Canadian Commonwealth Scholarship 1985-91
Other Credentials
- Chairperson, Commonwealth Writers Prize (Eurasia) 2002 and 2003
- Articles Editor Postcolonial Text 2003-2004
- Member International Advisory Board, SARE 2008
- Chair, Gratiaen Trust, 2010
- Chair Sri Lanka Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies 2010
- Bibliography Representative (Sri Lanka), Journal of Commonwealth Literature 1995
- Editor Sri Lanka Journal of the Humanities 1996-2011
- Member, Advisory Committee DSC Prize for South Asian Writing 2010-13
- Controlling Chief, National Board of Examiners (English) GCE Advanced Level Examination 1995-8
- Editor Navasilu: Journal of the English Association of Sri Lanka 15&16 (1998)
- Editor Phoenix: Sri Lanka Journal of English in the Commonwealth 2011
- Member of Jury Meenakshi Mukherjee Prize 2015
