From Ashes to Pages: A Literary Bridge Reconnects Sri Lanka’s North and South
Staff Writer
In a country still navigating the long shadow of its past, a quiet but purposeful initiative is taking root—one that replaces rhetoric with action, and division with dialogue. Aptly titled “South to North – Book Donation,” the programme seeks to rebuild intellectual and cultural bridges across Sri Lanka through something deceptively simple: books.
The initiative is spearheaded by Nandana Weerarathna—a former BBC journalist, author, and political commentator—working in collaboration with Colombowire.com and Colombo Dialogue Think Tank, and supported internationally by the UK-based Progressive Group UK along with its affiliate, Harimaga.
At its operational core, the project is straightforward yet symbolically powerful. Members of the public in southern Sri Lanka are invited to donate books—academic texts, literature, religious works, and children’s reading materials—at a designated collection point in Attidiya, Dehiwala. From there, organisers coordinate the distribution of these books to under-resourced institutions across the northern provinces: schools, universities, public libraries, Hindu kovils, and Muslim mosques.
The chosen geography is not incidental. The north, particularly Jaffna, still carries the intellectual scars of the Burning of the Jaffna Library—an act widely regarded as one of the most devastating cultural losses in South Asia. For Nandana Weerarathna, who has written extensively about that event, this initiative is not merely charitable—it is deeply personal. It is, in effect, a form of restitution through knowledge.
“This is not just about books,” a coordinator involved in the project noted. “It is about restoring access,dignity, and intellectual continuity.”
Beyond logistics, the programme carries a broader socio-political undertone. At a time when Sri Lanka is attempting to recalibrate its national identity and governance framework under the National People's Power administration, grassroots efforts like this signal a parallel movement—one driven not by policy, but by civic conscience.
There is also a strategic subtlety to the initiative. By engaging religious institutions—temples, kovils, and mosques—the programme deliberately embeds itself within the social fabric of the communities it seeks to serve. This is not aid imposed from above; it is knowledge shared across cultural lines.
Donations are currently being accepted at:
17/2, 3rd Lane, Attidiya, Dehiwala
Interested contributors can coordinate via:
In a nation often defined by its divisions, “South to North – Book Donation” offers a different narrative—one where pages, not politics, carry the weight of reconciliation. It is a modest beginning, perhaps, but one with the potential to rewrite more than just stories.
