Sirimal Wijesinghe
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Sirimal Wijesinghe | |
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| Born | 31 March 1963 Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| Occupation | Author - Journalist - Film Director - Political activist |
| Website | https://sirimalwijesinghe.com |
Sirimal Wijesinghe is a Sri Lankan journalist, film director, and political activist. He was the founding editor of the controversial Sinhala youth magazine, Paradisaya. Wijesinghe was also one of the pioneers of the Colombo-based young political and cultural analysts who emerged in the decade of 1980, particularly after the advent of the open economic system.[1][2]
Paaraadeesaya magazine
Wijesinghe worked as an editor of newspapers or periodicals in Sri Lanka and is known for covering controversial topics with social and cultural analyses.[citation needed] His topics have ranged from politics, arts, culture and sexuality, presented in a more colloquial language comprising satire. Well-known social scientist Prof. Jayadewa Uyangoda once said he learnt to use a different and more effective writing style after reading Wijesinghe's articles.[3]
1990s popular sociocultural magazine Paradisaya (Paradise) was a brainchild of Sirimal Wijesinghe. Founded on 25 November 1998, Paradisaya became a huge success.[4] Its controversial style and content caused controversy in the country. The magazine reflected Sirimal's steadfastness towards alternate youth politics – human rights, minority rights and sexual autonomy was explicit in his social mediation in Sri Lanka's cultural politics after the 1980s.
A popular post-modernist theoretician in Sri Lanka and the leader of the Sri Lanka Vanguard Party, Deepthi Kumara Gunaratne has said Wijesinghe who is first Politics teacher of me broke many existing social and cultural shackles when he edited Paradeesaya. Gunaratne has added: "Sirimal bravely discussed the subject of sexuality which had been vehemently suppressed in the mainstream media that time. Understandably, the following generation followed in his footsteps and brought sexual themes openly to the media. Sirimal can be considered one of the most pioneers in our journalism."[5]