Reggie Siriwardena

Reginald Siriwardena was born in Ratmalana, Sri Lanka to middle-class parents. He was schooled at St Thomas', Mt Lavinia and later at Ananda College, Colombo. He received a scholarship to University College, Colombo where he read English. During the Second World War, he joined the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) and became an underground anti-colonial activist with the code name 'Hamid'. After graduating he taught English at Ananda College and at Royal College, Colombo. A few years later, he was recruited as a journalist on the Ceylon Daily News. In the early 1960s, he left the newspaper for what he considered was its poor taste and went on to found the English Department at the University of Kelaniya. He worked with director Lester James Peries on Gamperaliya and Golu Hadawatha, two of the greatest works of Sri Lankan cinema. He worked for the creation of a National Film Corporation for Sri Lanka, which was established in 1971. In the mid 1970s Siriwardena collaborated in the introduction of a controversial new English literature high school syllabus which, to the consternation of conservatives, included the lyrics of Bob Dylan's Blowin in the Wind, but not Shakespeare. In September 2004 at the State Literature Festival, he received the Distinguished Service Award for his contribution to English letters .