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# Where to go and what to read
- URL: https://www.examiner.media/where-to-go-and-what-to-read-28/
- Published: 2026-04-24T07:33:53.000Z
- Updated: 2026-04-24T08:35:55.000Z
- Author: The Examiner
- Tags: Diary, maintag-Diary, Week-15-2026

Whisper words of wisdom this evening, at Lakmahal’s non-fic [book club](https://www.instagram.com/p/DWwKiGvjuzu/?ref=examiner.media), on Arundhati Roy’s Mother Mary Comes to Me. 

AI is laying-off Colombo’s techies. ’Fully automated luxury communism’ presumably isn’t the pick-up line to use at this [tech mixer](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/colombo-tech-mixer-and-social-tech-ai-data-it-tickets-1987418700834?ref=examiner.media). Don’t speak tech? Cheers is also [hosting](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/colombo-social-and-language-exchange-make-new-friends-tickets-1987423612525?ref=examiner.media) a language exchange social at the same time. 

The Indian Tobacco Company (ITC) hosts a series of talks – a [retrospective](https://www.instagram.com/p/DXHD6-kAJBg/?ref=examiner.media) on artist Jayantha Premachandra – that spills into Saturday. Presumably they’ll replace the obligatory art-event stemware with cigarettes. Saturday brings another [book club](https://www.instagram.com/p/DW0S0YWDuTI/?ref=examiner.media) reminding us that everyone has a price. The question is what currency? Ponnaiyah Peter [walks](https://www.instagram.com/p/DXMGATRDUc-/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fweb%5Fcopy%5Flink&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==) through his art at Barefoot: placid from a distance, with every step you take its horrors become more apparent. Everystory [screens](https://www.instagram.com/p/DXZPBA-mNH0/?igsh=MXR1NnBrenVjdDVseA%3D%3D&ref=examiner.media) The Breadwinner at the Fearless Space. 

Sunday rings in a flea [market](https://www.instagram.com/p/DWy%5FQY1AGKA/?ref=examiner.media) in Wella, yet another [book club](https://www.instagram.com/p/DW5w-vflE5u/?ref=examiner.media) (this time Chimamanda’s Purple Hibiscus) amidst a [second-hand book sale](https://www.instagram.com/p/DWnhAf2mitQ/?ref=examiner.media) at, surprise surprise, Lakmahal. OpenHouse Colombo spotlights Indudunu Kariyawasam’s [studio](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/open-house-colombo-spotlight-studio-of-architect-indudunu-kariyawasam-tickets-1986509389058?ref=examiner.media) (and gets him to [speak](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/design-talk-moments-of-pause-with-indudunu-kariyawasam-tickets-1986508639817?ref=examiner.media) on Thursday). Better than looking at buildings, build muscle, go [rock climbing](https://www.instagram.com/p/DXGcufsgOXt/?ref=examiner.media). 

On Wednesday, Alliance Française screens a [film](https://www.instagram.com/p/DW0Xeqgjz%5FK/?ref=examiner.media) on Martin Wickremesinghe's French connection, feat Uditha Devapriya of course, whose dedication to his muse knows no limit. 

Thursday brings out the Chardonnay aunties, who slosh their vino and then [slash their paintbrush](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DXN9IPwCBRE/?ref=examiner.media) at the Curado. 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/56/2b/562b4f8e-9dd1-43bb-a213-bc1615650661/content/images/2026/04/data-src-image-5d546b4e-dbac-4545-ad5d-755f77ac1f6d.png)

*What to read*

The literary gazette’s second issue [drops](https://www.instagram.com/p/DW4E2FlkpIA/?ref=examiner.media) today, while the Gratien longlist is [out](https://www.instagram.com/p/DXLmQnPijXO/?img%5Findex=1&ref=examiner.media). 

A Durham university don “delves into the cultural beliefs and practices surrounding poison” to [unpack](https://www.ucpress.edu/books/the-sovereign-poison/paper?ref=examiner.media) Gota’s fertilizer ban. While the International Crisis Group [assesses](https://www.crisisgroup.org/sites/default/files/2026-04/sri-lanka-bumpy-road-political-reset%5F1.pdf?ref=examiner.media) Sri Lanka’s bumpy political reset since. 

Prasad Kariyawasam navigates the shoals [surrounding](https://www.ft.lk/opinion/Freedom-of-navigation-in-Indian-Ocean/14-790895?ref=examiner.media) the Indian Ocean Zone of Peace. In short: he thinks it's an anachronism and we should focus on freedom of navigation and UNCLOS instead. 

The ADB wants to [unlock](https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/1138116/adb-brief-386-unlocking-sri-lanka-trade-india.pdf?ref=examiner.media) Sri Lanka’s trade with India. The keys have been in the lock for decades, but who will turn it? 

Ambika Satukananthan [warns](https://www.ft.lk/columns/Repression-by-regulation-When-FATF-mutual-evaluations-become-Government-weapons/4-790866?ref=examiner.media) that anti-money laundering regulation could be throwing out the baby with the bathwater, and stifling dissent in the process. More [documents](https://progressive.international/wire/2026-04-15-declassified-documents-detail-israels-role-at-the-start-of-sri-lankas-civil-war/en/?ref=examiner.media) on the Israeli Interests Section which operated at the US Embassy in Colombo in the 1980s have been released. The UN’s interviews of Ditwah [victims](https://www.undp.org/srilanka/publications/cyclone-ditwah-insights-rapida-key-informant-interviews?ref=examiner.media).