Jean Arasanayagam

• Born — 2 December 1931 • Birth Name — Jean Lynette Christine Solomons • Died — 30 July 2019 • Occupation — Writer • Genre — Fiction, Poetry • Spouse — Thiyagarajah Arasanayagam • Children — 2 • Birthplace — Kandy, Sri Lanka • Education — * Girls' High School, Kandy • University of Peradeniya • University of Strathclyde

Jean Lynette Christine Solomons, born on 2 December 1931 in Kandy, Sri Lanka, was the youngest of three children born to Harry Daniel Solomons and Charlotte Camille (née Jansz). Arasanayagam attended the Girls' High School, Kandy, graduated from the University of Peradeniya, and received a Master of Arts in Linguistics from the University of Strathclyde. While primarily recognised as a poet, Arasanayagam was also a talented painter who showcased her artwork at Commonwealth exhibitions in London and Paris, as well as at the Lionel Wendt Art Centre in Colombo. Her husband along with their daughters, Devasundari and Parvathi, all possess a deep love for writing. Thiyagarajah achieved recognition by winning the Gratiaen Prize in 2016, while Parvathi has established herself as a published writer in the genres of fiction, short stories, and poetry. She died on 30 July 2019, aged 88, after a brief illness.

Throughout Arasanayagam's diverse body of work–which encompasses poetry, short fiction, fiction, and memoirs–she consistently explores several prominent themes, including identity, heritage, displacement, and ethnic violence. Critics widely acknowledge that the year 1983 had a profound impact on Arasanayagam's literary career, leading to a noticeable sense of urgency and heightened political awareness in her writing after that period. Her collection Apocalypse 83 (1984) specifically addresses the riots that took place in July 1983, serving as a strong protest against the anti-Tamil violence that unfolded in the aftermath of Sri Lanka's independence. Being married to a person of Tamil-Hindu ancestry, she became a target of Sinhala nationalist forces during the events of Black July in 1983. Living in Kandy, Sri Lanka, at the time and working as a lecturer in a teachers' college in the nearby town of Peradeniya, she and her family faced direct threats. A mob set fire to a neighbor's house and posed a danger to the Arasanayagam family themselves. As a result, they were forced to flee their home, seeking refuge in the houses of sympathetic neighbors before being ultimately taken to a refugee camp by the army. This traumatic experience profoundly influenced her personal identity and subsequently became a recurring theme in her writing, as she explored the events of Black July and other acts of violence witnessed in the country following its independence. Arasanayagam also wrote about the suffering of women during the colonial period, highlighting the period's prevalent patriarchal practices. An example of this can be seen in "Maagdenhuis - The House of the Virgins Amsterdam/Kalpitiya," where she narrates the experiences of Dutch female orphans who were brought to Sri Lanka to serve as sexual companions for Dutch colonisers. Through her writing, she exposes the exploitative nature of colonial relationships and highlights the suffering endured by women subjected to such circumstances.

• Kindura (1973) • Poems of Season Beginning and a Season Over (1977) • Apocalypse '83 (1984) • The Cry of the Kite (1984) • A Colonial Inheritance and Other Poems (1985) • Out of Our Prisons We Emerge (1987) • Trial by Terror (1987) • Reddened Waters Flow Clear (1991) • Shooting the Floricans (1993) • Nallur • ruined gopuram • mother-in-law • Fusillade

• The Cry of the Kite (A collection of short stories) (Kandy, 1984) • The Outsider (Nagasaki University: Bulletin of the Faculty of Liberal Arts, 1989) • Fragments of a Journey (Colombo: WERC, 1992) • All is Burning (New Delhi: Penguin Books India, 1995) • Peacocks and Dreams (New Delhi: Navrang, 1996) • In the Garden Secretly and Other Stories (Penguin, 1999)

Jean Arasanayagam is recorded with the occupation short story writer. Recorded as a citizen of Sri Lanka. Arasanayagam studied at International Writing Program, University of Peradeniya, University of Strathclyde and Girls' High School, Kandy.