| Gunadasa Amarasekera | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1929 Galle District, Sri Lanka |
| Nationality | Sri Lankan |
| Education | Mahinda College, Galle Nalanda College Colombo University of Ceylon |
| Occupation | Dental Surgeon |
| Known for | Short story writing, Poetry |
| Religion | Buddhist |
Gunadasa Amarasekera (born in 1929) is a prominent Sinhala writer, poet, and essayist from Sri Lanka. Gunadasa Amarasekera was born in Yattalamatta in Galle District. He was educated at Mahinda College, Galle and Nalanda College Colombo. Some of Dr Amarasekara's notable classmates at Nalanda College were Karunaratne Abeysekera, Stanley Jayasinghe, Dr Harischandra Wijayatunga, Dr Hudson Silva, Hon. Rupa Karunathilake, Hon. Dr Dharmasena Attygalle, Dr Henry Jayasena. He is a graduate of University of Ceylon and a Dental Surgeon by profession. He is one of the founding fathers of the Peradeniya school of literary tradition of modern Sri Lankan literature. He was a controversial figure from the outset, due to the subject matter and style. He later did a complete turn around and criticised his own works like "Gandabba Apadanaya".
After 1970s, he moved to social, cultural, and political criticism. Together with Nalin de Silva, he was responsible for the Jaathika Chinthanaya (national consciousness) movement which dominates Sinhala intellectual debate from mid-1980s to the current date.