River of Ink, a story based on an intriguing incident that happened as far back in history as ancient Polonnaruwa era was translated into Sinhala by Saman Kaluarachchi, a senior journalist, author and a lawyer. The English version and the translated copy, ‘Theentha Nadiya’ was launched at an event held recently at the Mahaveli Centre, attended by the two authors, both who are living overseas.
The original book has been written by British national Paul M. M. Cooper, who fell in love with Sri Lanka’s history and studied it for his post graduate work while volunteering as an English teacher in Polonnaruwa as a 22 year old.
The River of Ink was launched in Britain and the United States simultaneously and in the same year itself it went for reprint in both destinations, speaking volumes of its popularity despite the publication being a tale of history of a far off country.
The story is woven around a lesser known love story during the Polonnaruwa kingdom in 1215. “The British author has recreated our history wonderfully in this beautiful work of fiction,” Kaluarachchi said speaking at the book launch of his decision to translate it to Sinhala for the benefit of Sri Lankan vernacular audience. He has accidentally stumbled upon the book at a library in Vancouver.
The book written about his native country aroused his interest but the desire to translate it was born not just because of that. “The intriguing language and the outstanding writing skills of the author compelled me to take up the job,” he said.
Kaluarachchi said he studied the historical sources the author has based his book on to do justice to the translation and maintain the same high standard in the original work.
Prof. J. B. Dissanayake and Director Jayantha Chandrasiri were invited speakers at the book launch. Kaluarachchi, who lives in Canada with his family at present, is a former News Editor at ‘Divaina’ of Upali Newspaper group.