I was born in Sri Lanka but I have lived most of my life in Australia. Much of this was spent in Melbourne except for a four year stint as a teacher in Alice Springs. In addition I have travelled to the US, UK and India and I travel frequently to Sri Lanka.
During my time in Australia I have obtained a bachelor’s degree and a PhD. I have worked as a cleaner, a builder’s labourer, furniture jockey, machine operator, tutor, lecturer and teacher, and these are only the jobs that I remember. I have come to know Australians, Italians. Afghans, Indians and Aboriginal people in addition to Sri Lankans. I know gay people, straight people, and gay people who call themselves straight to get by in a crooked world. I have done things I am proud of and also things I wish I had never done and do not wish to talk about. I have grown and changed as a result of all this and all these.
My writing reflects my education, my experiences and my understanding and appreciation of the world. I do not see myself as Sri Lankan or Australian but an individual who has been shaped by my life in both those countries. I am neither the person who lived in Sri Lanka nor a new person born in Australia, but a person always changing, becoming.
I write mainly to please myself rather than for a market; so I do not try to produce a ‘Sri Lankan voice’ for an Australian market or a Sri Lankan-Australian voice for both Australian and Sri Lankan markets. If I think I have a story to tell, I tell it. And I have plenty of stories to tell. They tell themselves to me all the time, in my head. And my stories are influenced by the life I have known and the lives of people I have known. I do not claim to represent anybody. This is MY voice. I hope people like it for what it is and what it has to say rather than for what they think it ought to be.
CHANNA WICKREMESEKERA 