Suwanda H. J. Sugunasiri, who was born in Sri Lanka when it was known as Ceylon, has published poetry in English and fiction in Sinhala, and edited a collection of short stories and a monograph on South Asian literature in Canada. Other non-fiction works include works on multiculturalism in Canada and a couple of works on Buddhism. He completed a Ph.D. in 1978 at the University of Toronto with a thesis entitled: Humanistic Nationalism: A Language-Based Model of National Development, With Particular Reference to Post-colonial Nations. He is the founder of the Nalanda College of Buddhist Studies, an independent college, and member of the Faculty of Divinity, Trinity College at the University of Toronto.
Poetry
Celestial Conversations: Poems
Toronto: Nalanda Pub. Canada, 2006.
PS8587 .U36 C44 2006
Publisher’s Synopsis
What comes through in these poems is the poet’s knack for turning the most ordinary to the most extraordinary, through refreshing imagery, succinct language and precise structure, inviting the reader to join in an exhilarating fun. Nature, travel, Buddhism and advancing years provide much of the context for the collection.
Poetry
The Faces of Galle Face Green: Poems
Toronto: TSAR, 1995.
Poetry
Obama-Ji
Toronto: Nalanda Publishing Canada, 2009.
Open Access Version from t-space repository at the University of Toronto
Poetry (Chapbook)
Waves of Cuba: Poem
Toronto: NPC, 2009.
Fiction
Untouchable Woman’s Odyssey: A Novel
Toronto: Nalanda Publishing Canada, 2010.
PS8587 .U36 U68 2010
Open Access Version from t-space repository at the University of Toronto
Anthology (Short stories)
The Whistling Thorn: South Asian Canadian Fiction
Edited by Suwanda Sugunasiri.
Oakville, ON: Mosaic Press, 1994.
PS8239 .W55 1994
Synopsis (from the editor’s intro.)
“The characters in these stories, like the whistling thorn tree in the African bush, live their quiet ways in the wilderness of life, whistling paeans of joy and bearing the thorns of pain, roots reaching out to wherever they would find sustenance.”
Links
Suwanda H. J. Sugunasiri biography from the University of Toronto Archives.
Publisher Mawenzi House (formerly TSAR)