Photo Credit: Sanjeewa Weerasinghe
My name is Thushanthi Ponweera, but you can call me Thush! I’m from sunny Sri Lanka. If you don’t know where it is, then I suggest finding out right now. It is an amazing little island, perfectly imperfect, and my relationship with it is a huge source of creative inspiration.
Growing up with an English library of books from predominantly first-world countries, I used to think that anything worth reading should feature characters from those countries. It is only much later that I started to question this. With the encouragement from a wonderful international online writing community, I am starting to understand that we too deserve to be written about, and our stories are worth reading too. Stories are one of the most powerful ways to bridge any gaps between humanity and build empathy, and that sense of responsibility pervades my writing ethic.
After having lived all my life in Colombo, Sri Lanka, my husband and I, along with our two young children, recently moved to Doha, Qatar.
*Ayubowan is a traditional Sinhalese greeting and means “May your life be long”
*In the photograph above, I am wearing a locally handwoven saree. I love the colorful vibrance and uniqueness of Sri Lankan handlooms. The flower in my hair is Araliya or Frangipani- my favorite! And if you look really closely, my pendant is in the shape of our island 🙂