Anne Ranasinghe
Jewish poet from
Sri Lanka
Nurse, Journalist, Distinguished Poet and a Short Story Writer.
Anne Ranasinghe was
born in Anneliese Katz in Essen in 1925. She was an only child; and
witnessed 'Kristallnacht' ('the Night of Broken Glass'); the burning
of the synagogue in Essen; her father's arrest and transportation to
Dachau; and his subsequent return as a physical and mental wreck. In
1939, when Anne was 13, her parents sent her to England to escape
the Nazis. She was met by an aunt she had never seen before, and
within a week, was sent to a school 140 miles away to live among
strangers and to learn a new language. Within six months, World War
II broke out, and she became an enemy alien. Much later, Anne would
learn that her parents and all of her relatives had been murdered by
the Nazis.
Anne continued her education, became a Nursing Sister, and received
a degree in Journalism. She married a Sinhalese Professor of the
Colombo Medical Faculty, moved to Sri Lanka (where she is and has
been the only resident Jew for the past forty years), raised a
family, and began writing poems and prose in the early seventies.
In Sri Lanka she is
considered one of the foremost poets writing in English. She has
published nine books, has been translated into seven languages, and
has won numerous prizes for her works.
She worked for 15
years as Executive Secretary for the Amnesty International South
Asia Publication Service, situated in Colombo.
Online Resources
The Southern Asian Literary Recordings Project - The Library of
Congress , New Delhi Office holds 7 of Anne Ranasinghe’s works with
Realmedia extracts online.
Who's Who among South Asian Women - Anne Ranasinghe, Jewish Poet
from Sri
Lanka. By Anders Sjoebohm literary critic,
Gothenburg, Sweden
Bibliography
Mascot and Symbol. 1997.
Desire and other Stories. 1994, reprint 1995.
You Ask Me Why I Write Poems. 1994.
The Letter and Other Stories. 1994.
At What Dark Point. 1991, reprinted and updated 1996.
Not Even Shadows. 1991.
Against Eternity and Darkness. 1985, reprinted 1985, 1988, 1996.
Of Charred Wood
Midnight Fear. 1983.
Love, Sex and Parenthood. 1978.
Plead Mercy. 1975.
With Words We Write Our Lives Past, Present, Future. 1972.
Poems - And a Sun That Sucks The Earth to Dry. 1971.
