Nadishka Aloysius

Nadishka Aloysius is a teacher, actor, and author. As a teacher of Drama and English Language with over 20 years’ experience, and a mother of two sons who love story time, she finds inspiration in the little everyday details of life. She is a firm believer that representation matters and strives to showcase Sri Lankan life in her work.

Nadishka conducts creative writing workshops and school visits to share her love of literature. Her debut novel for children, Ronan’s Dinosaur, was shortlisted for the State Literary Award in 2019, while her first YA novella Raavana’s Daughter was shortlisted for the State Literary Award in 2020, and longlisted for the prestigious Gratiaen Award in 2019. That Easter Sunday was awarded Best Children’s Literature at the State Literary Awards 2021, and Ayash Grows a Family Tree won the State Literary Award for Best Children’s Literature in 2023.

Top Titles

• Raavana’s Daughter (2018)

• That Easter Sunday (2020)

• Ayash Grows a Family Tree (2022)

Speaker

Jasbinder Bilan

Jasbinder is the Costa Award winning author of Asha and the Spirit Bird, Tamarind and the Star of Ishta and Aarti and the Blue Gods. In her writing she loves creating magical worlds inspired by her love of nature and wild places. Jasbinder was born on a farm close to the foothills of the Himalaya and now lives in a wooded valley near Bath with her husband, two teenage boys and dog Enzo. Her latest book, Xanthe and the Ruby Crown, is inspired by her hometown of Nottingham and brings magic to an everyday setting.

Top Titles

• Asha and the Spirit Bird (2019)

• Tamarind and the Star of Ishta (2020)

• Xanthe and the Ruby Crown (2023)

Tehani Chitty

Healing happens in connection with others. Whether with a loved one or a therapist, a caring and non-judgemental shared space is what we need to process difficulties in life. Tehani Chitty is a dramatherapist and actor who aims to provide such a space. She facilitates one-to-one and group sessions for children and adults seeking support with a range of issues including, emotional and behavioural difficulties, anxiety, depression and trauma. Tehani has run self-compassion groups with women from conflict-affected areas and worked with children in residential care. Underpinning her work is the understanding that humans develop and heal through play, so her sessions and workshops are filled with stories, games and time for reflection.

Sulochana Dissanayake

Founder and artistic director of Power of Play (PVT) LTD, Sulochana Dissanayake engages in communication development, corporate training, education and performance. Based in Pita-Kotte, Sri Lanka, she is a cum laude graduate of Bates College (B.A. in Economics and Theater, 2009). Sulochana’s study of social economics combined with formal training in acting, directing, play writing and puppetry has led her to connect with diverse audiences, facilitating positive behavioural changes through creative, non-traditional communication tools. Her professional experience in leading theatres in the USA (Guthrie Theater & Williamstown Theater Festival) exposed her to the potential of presentations to influence audiences. Keen to discover the power of performance in building bridges across social, cultural and economic divides, she travelled to South Africa and Indonesia on a Watson Fellowship (2009/10). Back in Sri Lanka for the foreseeable future, Sulochana won the BUNKA Award in 2016. She uses her experience in the USA, Europe, Africa and Asia to create unique communication solutions for corporate, governmental and non-governmental sectors of Sri Lanka.

Speaker

Nizrana Farook

Nizrana Farook was born and raised in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and the beautiful landscapes of her home country find their way into the stories she writes. Her first book, The Girl Who Stole an Elephant, was the UK’s biggest selling children’s debut of the year. Featuring a feisty girl-thief named Chaya and a loveable elephant, it was longlisted for the Blue Peter Award and the Jhalak Prize. Three more books followed, all set in a fictional Sri Lanka. Nizrana has a master’s degree in writing for young people and lives with her family in Hertfordshire, UK.

Top Titles

• The Girl Who Stole an Elephant (2020)

• The Boy Who Met a Whale (2021)

• The Boy Who Saved a Bear (2023)

Speaker

Anthony Horowitz

Anthony is a born polymath; juggling writing books, TV series, films, plays and journalism. Anthony has written over 50 books including the bestselling teen spy series Alex Rider, which is estimated to have sold 21 million copies worldwide and has been adapted into a hugely successful television series.  

He is also an acclaimed writer for adults. He was commissioned to write two new Sherlock Holmes novels, and three continuation novels for James Bond. Anthony’s award-winning novel Magpie Murders was serialised on BritBox and televised on the BBC in 2023. The sequel, Moonflower Murders, began filming in 2023. His new series, featuring Detective Hawthorne and a sidekick called Anthony Horowitz, includes five books so far. 

Anthony is responsible for creating some of the UK’s most beloved television series including Midsomer Murders and Foyle’s War, the Winner of the Lew Grade Audience award for BAFTA. Anthony was awarded a CBE in 2022 for his services to literature.

Top Titles

• With a Mind to Kill (2022 – final James Bond novel)

• Nightshade: Revenge (2023 – the latest in the Alex Rider series)

• Close to Death (2023 – the latest in the Hawthorne and Horowitz series)

Speaker

Kiran Millwood Hargrave

Kiran Millwood Hargrave (FRSL) is an internationally bestselling, award-winning novelist for children and adults. Her children’s books include The Girl of Ink & Stars, Julia and the Shark, and most recently the first in her major new The Geomancer Trilogy, In the Shadow of the Wolf Queen. Her fiction for adults, The Mercies and The Dance Tree, have won international accolades such as the Prix Rive Gauche, a Betty Trask Award and an NYT Notable Book. Her work has been translated into over thirty languages, and optioned for stage and screen. She lives in Oxford with her husband, artist Tom de Freston, their daughter, and two cats. 

Top Titles

• The Girl of Ink & Stars (2016)

• The Mercies (2022)

• In the Shadow of the Wolf Queen (2023)

Shimali Perera

Shimali Perera, AThR (B.S. Psychology, MA Art Therapy) holds a master’s degree in Art Therapy and is registered with the Australian, New Zealand & Asian Creative Arts Therapies Association (ANZACATA). Shimali has been practising in Sri Lanka as an art therapist for the past nine years, working with both adults and children. She collaborates with the Vida Medical Center and Ninewells Family Wellness for individual art therapy and art therapy experiential workshops. Her experience is in working with depression, anger and unforgiveness, anxiety disorders, facing stressful situations, coping with physical sickness, grief, trauma, and single-parent families. She conducts art therapy experiential workshops on de-stress and self-compassion for the corporate sector, schools, and NGOs.

Tasmin Anthonisz

A Drama and Screen Studies graduate from Manchester University, associate of The Wendy Whatmore Academy of Speech and Drama, and old girl of Ladies’ College, Tasmin began her drama career as a munchkin in the Academy’s 2004 production of The Wiz. She made her professional debut in The Gaza Monologues 2010, produced by FloatingSpace Theatre Co. in association with Ashtar Theatre Palestine, and represented Sri Lanka in the international production of The Gaza Monologues at the UN HQ in New York, and the Le Mama Theatre off Broadway. Her theatrical journey has taken her to Manchester, Liverpool, London, Colombo, Galle and Maskeliya, working with leading theatre companies including Mind Adventures, Stages, WSP, Forced Entertainment (UK), and Tie-Dye Drama (UK). In 2016, she created her own initiative, Studiolusion, as a platform for emerging theatre practitioners in Sri Lanka to develop unorthodox performance ideas. Tasmin works primarily as a director, writer and actor, and is also the drama coach at Wesley College Colombo, whose students have won many accolades under her guidance.

Host

StoryLandSL

StoryLandSL is a platform dedicated to the art of storytelling. The brainchild of Mokshini Jayamanne (Attorney-at-Law) and Kavitha Gunesekera (Human Resources), StoryLandSL aims to create captivating narratives that engage, entertain and inspire audiences across various mediums. 

The idea was conceived during the challenging days of the Covid-19 pandemic, with the aim of helping parents and children get through an uncertain time. The feedback and engagement received was extraordinary, leading Mokshini and Kavitha to collaborate with like-minded storytellers to craft compelling storytelling experiences. “Saying Hello” was written by Mokshini for a live story-time hosted by the duo in 2020, and published in 2023.

Mokshini and Kavitha bring over 35 years of teaching and training experience to their work. With a commitment to quality and growth, they passionately believe in the power of storytelling to unite people, drive positive change, foster creativity, and promote a greater understanding of the world.

Neha Tennekoon

Neha Tennekoon presently holds the position of Gallery Assistant at the Barefoot Gallery in Colombo. In June 2023, she completed her education at the British School in Colombo, obtaining her secondary school degree. Neha is a digital artist, showcasing her talents in diverse fields such as illustration, animation, book design, and layouts. Her artistic repertoire includes graphic design, character design, and comics.

Neha’s digital portfolio is accessible on her Instagram handle, @neharts_. Additionally, her creative endeavours extend to @oceanswellorg on both Instagram and Twitter (X), offering a glimpse into her collaboration with Oceanswell, where she formerly served as the illustrator for the illustration series, “Megafauna Mondays.” Her artistic contributions to “Megafauna Mondays” not only showcase her skill with realism but also show her commitment to environmental narratives and marine conservation.