State Literary winner receives award in Germany
View(s):The Best Children’s Literature Award in English at The State Literary Awards 2012 was won by Neville Perera for his book ‘Kitty and the Bell Necklace’. The awards ceremony was recently held at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) in
Ambassador Konghage presenting the award to Mr. Perera
Colombo, but since Mr. Perera who lives in Germany was unable to travel to Sri Lanka to receive the award due to ill-health, the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Germany and the Sri Lankan community jointly organised an event to present the award to him.
Ambassador Sarath Konghage in his speech recollected his memories of Mr. Perera and reminded him of the days when they were students. The ambassador said that the book has a catchy title, and the theme, plot, and the style of the story is innovative and emotional, deviating from the conventional way of story telling. The language used by Mr. Perera for the narration is very eloquent and understandable. “The story teaches us how to make peace and harmony and lead an honest life. The illustration done by Shanth Herath adds a touch of reality to the characters of the story,” the ambassador added.
Lecturer at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany Ven. Ratmalane Punyarathna Thero, reviewed the book and highlighted the effect of children’s literature in the relationship between parents and children.
Mr. Perera thanked the Embassy and the Sri Lankan community for arranging the event. Dr. Hans-Gunther Oberlack, Mayor of Glienicke-Nordbahn, Mr. Perera’s place of residence , members of the Sri Lankan community and the embassy staff participated in the event. Dr. Oberlack announced his plan to organise an event to pay tribute to Mr. Perera at the town hall in Glienicke-Nordbahn in the near future.