Kusuma Karunaratne
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Kusuma Karunaratne nee Ediriweera Jayasooriya(November 21, 1940 - ) is a Sri Lankan academic, university administrator, Professor and scholar of Sinhalese language and literature.[1][2]
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[edit] Early life
Kusuma Jayasooriya completed her undergraduate education at the University of Ceylon in the Peradeniya campus; [1] there in 1964, she became the the first female student in her discipline to earn a First class honours degree from that institution.[3].
[edit] Academic career
An academic career began with her appointment as an assistant lecturer of the Department of Sinhala at the University of Ceylon. She later married Samarajeewa Karunaratne a junior faculty colleague. In 1967, Mrs. Karunaratne and her husband travelled to the United Kingdom where both furthered their education with post-graduate studies, with her studying Sociology of Literature at the University of Essex.[citation needed] Later she pursued graduate studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.[citation needed] She was awarded her doctorate from the University of Colombo.
Karunaratne became the first female lecturer in Sinhala Department at the University of Columbo, and she was to be the first female Professor of Sinhala and the first woman to head that Department.[3] Professor Karunaratne would later go on to become the Dean and the Acting Vice Chancellor of the University of Colombo.[3]
During her career she had taught Sinhala to many Japanese, including professors and diplomats, thus helping to strengthen the relations between Japan and Sri Lanka. She had translated many English and Japanese novels to Sinhala.
[edit] Publications
- A Glimpse of Japanese Culture [4]
- Selected Sri Lankan Short Stories, Vol. I & Vol. II. , co-authored (with Sarath Wijesooriya), published by Godage Publishing 10-ISBN 9-552-06238-1, 10-ISBN 9-552-06239-x
- English-Sinhalese translation of Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises
[edit] Honors & Awards
- Ruhunu Putra Award[3]
- Liya Waruna Award[3]
- Japan Foundation, Fellow.[3]
- Order of the Rising Sun, with Gold Rays[3]
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Darling we aren't too old, though we pass the Jubilee Gold: Mathematician + intellectual = love,Sunday Observer, January 7, 2007.
- ^ Tissera-Gunasekara, Manu. "Kusuma Karunaratne: The simple, traditional Sri Lankan lady," Daily Mirror. August 15, 2007.
- ^ a b c d e f g Perera, Suharshi. "Woman: An icon in the literary world," Daily News (Sri Lanka). August 9, 2007.
- ^ Speech at Seminar in Commemoration of Fifty Years of Bilateral Relatoins between Sri Lanka and Japan," (2002).
