Lakdhas Wikkrama Sinha


Lakdhas Wikkrama Sinha was a Sri Lankan poet who wrote in English and Sinhala, and is known for his fusion of the two languages.

Early life and education

Wikkramasinha was educated at St Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia, Sri Lanka, where he studied law.

Career

Wikkramasinha became an English teacher. His interest in Sinhala literature led him to experiment with methods of fusing Western and South Asian traditions in his writing.
Wikkrama Sinha's first book of verse, Lustre: Poems, was written entirely in English. Feeling constrained by his education to write in the language of what he believed to be ‘the most despicable people on earth’, he set himself to write as anarchically as possible. His later work, however, did not reflect this mood.
Wikkramasinha's work appeared in Madrona, Eastern Horizon, New Ceylon Writing, Outposts, University of Chicago Review, and other local and international journals, and was published privately by him in Janakiharana and Other Poems, Fifteen Poems, and Nossa Senhora dos Chingalas, O Regal Blood, and The Grasshopper Gleaming.
In honour of a Sri Lankan artist of a previous generation, Wikkramasinha edited and privately published Twelve Poems to Justin Daraniyagala 1903 –67.
Wikkramasinha died by drowning at age 36.

Books by Lakdhas Wikkrama Sinha