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# Where to go and what to read
- URL: https://www.examiner.media/where-to-go-and-what-to-read-19/
- Published: 2026-02-13T07:50:05.000Z
- Updated: 2026-02-13T07:50:05.000Z
- Author: The Examiner
- Tags: Diary, maintag-Diary, Week-06-2026

Mashallah, we have at least one literary festival this year. The [Ceylon Lit Fest](https://www.instagram.com/p/DUN5EwxEzkg/?img%5Findex=2&ref=examiner.media) kicks-off today. In the evening; [toxic drama](https://www.instagram.com/p/DTZ6D%5F5Ez1F/?ref=examiner.media) from Mind Adventures, a Bawa Trust talk on [architects, spooks, and silk in Thailand](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/house-to-art-center-reinterpreting-the-jim-thompson-legacy-across-time-tickets-1982119473703?aff=ebdssbdestsearch&ref=examiner.media), and an [invisible women book club.](https://www.instagram.com/p/DULMfAPjeZL/?igsh=dmF4dHYzajB2bjdk&ref=examiner.media) Recover from the overstimulation with some monkey business: Monkey Shoulder [grooves](https://www.instagram.com/p/DUTfXtlk3Lf/?ref=examiner.media) at King of the Mambo. 

[Tour Moratuwa](https://www.instagram.com/p/DUfIytwkiVv/?igsh=MWJmaGx3bDgyZ3Nzdw==&ref=examiner.media), Lanka’s nobody-to-somebody capital, with the history collective on Saturday. Also a [panel](https://www.instagram.com/p/DUm9%5FYtEl9e/?igsh=azVvcTh6a3c3M2Iy&ref=examiner.media) on Muslim expulsion from the North and [Asvajit](https://ra.co/events/2358589?ref=examiner.media) at Dot’s. All else surrenders to Valentine’s hallmark-industrial complex. It hit a tad close to home, so we’re outsourcing the job to Happening Colombo’s list of [events](https://www.happeningcolombo.com/?ref=examiner.media).

On Monday, [Bombay photography as bhakthi](https://www.instagram.com/p/DUkXi9xDJXe/?img%5Findex=1&ref=examiner.media) at Radicle and [poets traversing worlds](https://www.instagram.com/p/DUna2oqDpUk/?igsh=MXRvdno0Y29jdWMxbg==&ref=examiner.media) at Lakmahal. Tuesday brings the soon to depart [Ways of Knowing](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ways-of-knowing-exhibition-tour-tickets-1981844782093?aff=ebdssbdestsearch&ref=examiner.media). 

Often forgetting despite being an island, the sea makes a splash this week. Tuesday: The Kadirgamar Institute [hosts](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSceu-1xme42aMlrjXAQHE8VOGDKkO25IPNp%5FHJ4AOxFTDJy3A/viewform?ref=examiner.media) the last living Lankan delegate to the UN Law of the Sea Conference. Also Pathfinder’s [Indian Ocean security conference](https://web.facebook.com/pathfinderfoundation/posts/pfbid0JxNwYW7UmRiFYYQhZ2iamua7cVdB79Qqkk2ND3FdLB31At7VWnqcCv7NnfUXE3CPl?rdid=i7vWBL6s6Ldxhtr0&ref=examiner.media). 

And on Wednesday, [Sanjeewa Liyanage](https://www.instagram.com/p/DUngmI8DP8B/?igsh=dDduaW9yaGU4eDBu&ref=examiner.media) at Paradise Road. 

Friday brings [language as self portrait](https://www.instagram.com/p/DUcvKO2DIDH/?img%5Findex=1&ref=examiner.media) at Barefoot. This week you’ve partied with Asvajit, next week learn something from [Indrajit (Coomaraswamy).](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7426612289811718144/?utm%5Fsource=share&utm%5Fmedium=member%5Fdesktop&rcm=ACoAAAEMqXABFhuz-5NijOvl6xsnH0Zkp0-uRAk) Also coming up, [Hashan Cooray](https://www.instagram.com/p/DUkU1GVCLEM/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fweb%5Fcopy%5Flink&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==) at Saskia’s, [Rob R’s Tam beats](https://www.instagram.com/p/DUlZyeqCX0f/?igsh=MWJkZzNiOWxuMTluYg%3D%3D&ref=examiner.media) at Sanctuarii, and a screening of [The Death Poets Society.](https://www.instagram.com/p/DUm%5FcT0GC9x/?igsh=MXdzOWVkNXk2ZzRxMA==&ref=examiner.media) 

[Neighbours still dance](https://www.instagram.com/p/DUNLHaoiE15/?ref=examiner.media) in Barefoot’s gallery, and [painters paint in silence](https://www.instagram.com/p/DUPb-qAiuqZ/?igsh=bTVldnZoNjB3anA5&ref=examiner.media) at Radicle. 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/56/2b/562b4f8e-9dd1-43bb-a213-bc1615650661/content/images/2026/02/data-src-image-f8d09a09-bb8d-48c9-aec0-b1becf6471cd.png)

Photo: ARTRA

[Pop fever](https://www.artra.lk/pop-fever/?ref=examiner.media): Sanathanan’s essay on [90’s Lankan pop-art](https://www.artra.lk/pop-fever/?ref=examiner.media) doesn’t have too much theory – you won’t have to reach for the panadol. 

While our EEZ claims don’t even muddle along, itty bitty Maldives is [making a play ](https://maldivesindependent.com/explainer/the-chagos-dispute-explained-colonial-borders-displaced-people-and-a-small-nation-defying-international-law-0755?ref=examiner.media)in the Chagos Islands (side-plot: two of our tuna boats are involved). 

Dileni Gunawardene has a detailed [report](https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/1103891/female-labor-force-participation-sri-lanka.pdf?ref=examiner.media) on female labour force participation for the ADB. 

Read-out of the Government’s [call](https://www.ft.lk/top-story/Sri-Lanka-tells-ISB-investors-Govt-locks-in-IMF-targets-reforms/26-788240?ref=examiner.media) with bondholders: it’s still mostly fiscal, growth seems an afterthought. Our economic stabilization also gets good marks in the ADB’s [report card](https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/Evaluation%20Document/1115501/files/PVR%20L4315%20SRI%20Economic%20Stabilization%20Program.pdf?ref=examiner.media). 

On independence, Rohan Pethiyagoda [doesn’t mince words](https://www.themorning.lk/articles/u2suXZHMmd4Bexyey9h4?fbclid=IwY2xjawP6Pd5leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEefndjlhQ3Ez2e3HHW%5FM2nNz656ey1nXmJqKFMEq1BQ7C-WFrpIg-RgWLYEiw%5Faem%5Fs2YRmfoARayVjTIUOMkNog&ref=examiner.media): “people are running away from this country to live elsewhere. It’s because the country sucks. We’ve got to stop it from being that.” D.B.S Jeyaraj’s [annual](https://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/?p=85587&ref=examiner.media) on Upali Wijewardene. 

Is Lanka a misplaced part of Indonesia, asks Ronit Ricci in his [survey of Malay-Lankan history](https://www.jstor.org/content/pdf/oa%5Fchapter%5Fedited/jj.32913240.10?acceptTC=true&coverpage=false&addFooter=false&ref=examiner.media).