A collection of books in Sinhala and Tamil languages was donated to the Community Languages section of the City Library in Palmerston North, New Zealand on 24 September 2021.
The books were officially handed over to the library by the Founder of the Sinag Sri Lanka Foundation Tishan Sampath Dissanayake, in the presence of the Mayor of Palmerston North Linda Moore, Grant Smith, the Library Manager, and the library staff.
Palmerston North City Library in New Zealand maintains a collection of books in over 25 different languages for its multi-lingual readers. This donation of 76 books written in Sinhala and Tamil including some of the English translations of renowned authors such as Martin Wickramasinghe & W.A. Abeysinghe, will now enrich the library with Sri Lankan literature.
The collection included Martin Wickramasinghe’s Gamperaliya, Kaliyuga, Yuganthaya Madol Doowa, Ape Gama, and Dr. W. A. Abeysinghe’s popular translations are the Swami Saha Yaluwo, Yuddaya Ha Premaya in addition to Sinhala language books for children and Buddhist Jataka storybooks.
Sri Lankan children living in Palmerston are expected to benefit greatly from this collection of books to widen their knowledge of their native language and create cultural awareness of Sri Lankan life.
The books were sponsored by the Martin Wickramasinghe Trust Fund and Samudra Book Publishers. It was facilitated by the Sri Lanka High Commission in Canberra.
