Lalasha Rupasinghe (13) launched her first book Dorothy’s Journey on February 16 at the Nahaweli Kendraya, Colombo 7.
The Chief Guest was Chairman, Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited, Lake House, Prof. Harendra Kariyawasam.
In his message the chief guest, Prof. Kariyawasam stated that it is truly inspiring to see a child publishing a book at the age of 13.
“In the modern world children are driven away with technology, most things that are done on paper are moved to digital screens. Nevertheless, the value of a book is immeasurable, and a digital screen cannot stand parallel to that feeling.
It is incredible to see that young children still love books. I wish Lalasha all the best for the future.”
Lalasha presented the first copy of the book to him.
What inspired Lalasha to write Dorothy’s Journeys were forest themed movies. What she saw in them helped her to create the character of Dorothy.
In her vote of thanks, Lalasha expressed her gratitude to all those who helped her in a creative effort, Dorothy’s Journey.
Friends, relatives and teachers were present at the event to congratulate, support and wish Lalasha well.
The Principal, Lyceum International School, Gampaha Thilanka Karunarathna said that Lalasha was the sixth student from the school to publish a book and that she was very proud of them.
Other teachers present at the event were Deepani Alahakoon, Maya Halliday and Neville Fernando.
Ramith Dheerasekera along with Hirundi gave an introduction to the book while he and Nishantha Jayakodi conducted the ice breaker quote competition.
The winners of the competition were Methuka, Liyan and Savan.
The welcome speech was given by Sayumi Wijesooriya and she and Nuhara Dassanayake handled the announcing.
A song sung by Devon Thilakarathna provided much entertainment to the proceedings.
