Saman Tilakasiri

Saman Tilakasiri has written folk tales, Jataka stories and poetry collections and arranged for publishing. They are ready to be printed, complete with illustrations. But he could not do so because of his sudden illness which permeated him from doing anything further, and some of his best work could not yet come to light after his demise on Wednesday 5 January 2000.

He excelled in writing stories and poems for children. His poetry book "Pasal Lama Gee" (meaning of name: School Children's Songs) was adjudged the Best Children's Book in 1969. Saman was the pioneer to receive the award for any books for children in Sri Lanka. In 1979 he won an award for his poetry collection "Mal Onchilla" (meaning of name: Flower Swings) at the national book competition for 1979, the Year of the Children by United Nations. He continued to win awards and accolades many a times.

Fluent in Sinhala and English, Saman joined the staff of Lankadeepa, the prominent national newspaper, in 1952 as a translator. Eminent journalist, the late Mr. D. B. Dhanapala was a source of inspiration for Saman to become a much-respected journalist in the course of time. He continued to work and was elevated to the post of Sub-Editor and Feature Editor. Later he was also the Editor of "Rasavahini Magazine." He also contributed his writing to many publications such as "Sanskruthi", "Dina Dina", "Cinema" and other newspapers. He composed lyrics for popular songs, and helped new artists to break through in the early stages of career. One such discovery was Visharad W. D. Amaradeva.

Saman Tilakasiri (11 August 1928 – 5 January 2000) was a Sri Lankan poet, journalist and an award-winning author. He was a Senior Editor with "Lankadeepa" at Times of Ceylon and the Chief Editor of "Rasavahini" magazine. His published work include research on Sinhala literature, Sinhala grammar lessons, and a number of popular Sinhala books for children and youngsters, several of which won national awards, presidential award and UNICEF Book Competition for "Year of the Children 1979". Children's books by Saman Tilakasiri have become classic contributions to the Sri Lankan and Sinhala literature due to their unique story-telling style that combines conversational and lyrical poetic expression to tell a story which is also enjoyed by adults.