Tamil poet denied visa to attend book launch

‘Sekku Gona’, a Sinhala translation of three novels by pioneering contemporary Tamil poet V I S Jeyapalan was launched at the Jaffna Library auditorium at 3.00 pm Yesterday (29) sans the poet, as the government had refused to grant him visa. His works have been translated to Sinhala by Dr. Saminathan Wimal of the languages department of the Jaffna University. A Tamil translation, also by Dr. Wimal, of ‘Amma’ by Upul Shantha Sannasgala, too, was launched on the occasion.

10,000 books donated It also saw around 10,000 books being donated to the Jaffna library. Delivering speeches on the occasion were Dr. Dharmasena Pathiraja and acclaimed translator Gamini Viyangoda, were were among those instrumental in getting the ‘good governance’ regime to power. On November 28, Jeyapalan in a facebook posting said he would be unable to attend the occasion as the new government had rejected his visa application. He has told radiogagana.com that the government’s reason for refusing him visa was that he has resident visa, and he that he could apply only after its expiration. Jeyapalan denied having resident visa. Jeyapalan, poet & actor He visited Sri Lanka in November 2013 with the intention of paying respects at the grave of his mother at Mankulam in the Wanni, but was arrested while on his way and deported. Publishing his first collection of poems in 1986, he has so far written 12 books. He had left the country for political reasons and is staying in Norway and India. In 1995, he was recognized by the Norwegian writers association as the best migrant poet. Also an actor, he won a jury award at the 58th Indian national film awards for his role in the South Indian film ‘Aadukalam’.