චූලානන්ද සමරනායක, හෙතෙම විසල් මිනිසෙකි. එහෙයින්ම එතෙක් මෙතෙක් ඔහු ආ ගමන් මගෙහි මෙහෙවර අගයනු වස් ‘විසල් මිනිසෙක් – චූල කතාවක්’ යන මැයෙන් 2026.07.04 වැනි දින පස්වරු 2.00 ට හොරණ – කඳන වාසනා උත්සව ශාලාවේදී චූලානන්ද සමරනායක මෙහෙවර ඇගයුමට ලක් කෙරේ. විදුහල්පතිවරයකුට හා හෙඳ නිලධාරිනියකට…
Chulananda Samaranayake, he is a great man. Therefore, to appreciate the work he has done so far, the work of Chulananda Samaranayake will be evaluated on 2026.07.04 at 2.00 pm at the Wasana Festival Hall in Kandana, Horana under the title ‘A Great Man – A Short Story’.
Born in Ratnapura District to a principal and a nurse, Chulananda Samaranayake grew up in Ratiyala, a beautiful village in Kalutara District. He studied at Sri Siddhahat Kanishta Vidyalaya, Kobawaka and Taxila Central Maha Vidyalaya, Horana and entered the University of Sri Jayewardenepura. During his university life, Chulananda Samaranayake, who would become a full-time member of the JVP, was imprisoned three times for student politics, and the third imprisonment was a turning point in Chulananda's life. Growing up in a literary environment, he was involved in creating slogans, poems, songs, and metaphors during his time in student politics. He formally entered the writing life after his third imprisonment.
Veteran literary figure and writer Batuwangala Rahula Thero spoke about Chulananda Samaranayake's service to art and literature and the journey he had taken.
Knowing someone by name and being in their company are two different things. I got to know Chulananda Samaranayake, whom we affectionately call Chula Aiya, only after he joined the Kalutara District Writers' Association in late 2014. It was veteran writer Dayaratne Dalawella, who was the secretary of the association at that time, and veteran writer Lalith Pushpakumara who was the secretary of the association, who introduced Chulananda Samaranayake to the Writers' Organization. Another incident that gave us the opportunity to become personal friends was when he was awarded the Chingiz Aitmatov Award by the Aitmatov Academy in London and went to London for the ceremony and went on a walk in Scotland. At this time, Chula Aiya called me and asked if there was a place he knew of where he could stay for a few days in Glasgow, Scotland. I called Revatha Nayaka Hamuduru in Kamburawala and arranged that place. After that, we became even closer. We started working together in the Writers' Organization.
Did you know about him before you met him?
We knew about the translator and writer Chulananda Samaranayake through his works. His first book was published in 2001 under the title ‘Samuganimi Gulsari’. My first collection of works was in 2002. Therefore, there was about a year between his first book and my first book. But I actually read a book by Chulanda Samaranayake around 2012. The person we got to know through the book became a character we got to work with closely before long. By the time he started working with us, he had received the Chingiz Aitmatov Award and had become someone who had attracted attention not only in Sri Lanka but also internationally. I think he has gifted the reader with more than eighty translated books by now. There are also many books, including his own creations. There is something to be said here. This writer, who has received international attention by translating such a large number of books, also creates children's literature. No matter how busy he is, he makes time for children. We see it as a very valuable work. So, because of this book, we have identified the writer and translator Chulananda Samaranayake.
How is he associated with the Kalutara District Writers' Organization?
Mr. Chulananda Samaranayake once went to a book launch event in Colombo and was about to leave for the train in the late afternoon. Writers Lalith Pushpakumara and Dayaratne Dalawella walked up behind him and started talking to him. They became friends. As the three of them were traveling to Kalutara by train, they told him about the Kalutara District Writers' Organization and invited Chulananda Samaranayake to join it. That incident happened around the end of 2013. By 2014, Chulananda Samaranayake joined our organization. Today, he is doing a great service with that organization for children, young writers, and those who are about to enter the writing career.
What is his role in the Kalutara District Writers' Organization?
Actually, the Kalutara District Writers' Organization is an organization that does not have a large number of members but has done a lot of work. Currently, a separate camp is being launched within our organization to train young writers. People who have joined our organization are also working to organize workshops for short film production. In various programs organized by this writers' organization at the school level to motivate children to create, the writer Chulananda Samaranayake works with great dedication in those activities with a very humble nature. He has proven himself to be a man who walks the earth.
He is a writer who has refused awards. He once refused state awards. When he received the Chingiz Aitmatov Award in 2015, the international community told us that this small man is a great man. He is a writer who has received and continues to receive people's awards.
All the members of the Kalutara District Writers' Organization, who considered it their duty to remind the future generations of the work of this great man, decided to do such a work. When we presented our idea to Mr. Dayananda Bombuwala, the owner of Horana Wasana Bakers, who is also very fond of literature and is a patron of our organization, Mr. Chulananda Samaranayake, who is also very fond of literature, regarding how, where and how to do this, he has provided us with the venue, food and other facilities for this. We faced many difficulties in organizing this secretly from Chula Aiya. Actually, we wanted to hide it from him not to surprise him. Because we know very well that he will not allow this. I reserved the date from him because I have work to do. Now I know that he is doing something for him. But I still do not know how to do it.
His social work, that is a wonderful thing. A man with a fever who works for people in schools, buses, trains and other places. A wonderful man who works without eating, drinking or sleeping. We saw him going to those places during the Ditva cyclone and working day and night to change the hearts of people. He retired from his job a while ago. Now his whole life is a life dedicated to others. He is not someone who says he does not have time, but someone who somehow makes time for work. We have come to realize that he has been able to do all this because his wife is also a socially friendly person. The children are the same.
Chinthani Wickramanayake