> ## Content Index
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# Where to go and what to read
- URL: https://www.examiner.media/where-to-go-and-what-to-read-41/
- Published: 2026-07-24T05:47:28.000Z
- Updated: 2026-07-24T05:47:28.000Z
- Author: The Examiner
- Tags: Diary, maintag-Diary, Week-28-2026

*Where to go* 

This evening, Saint Vajra [teaches](https://x.com/%5Fvajra/status/2077596823901049321?ref=examiner.media) at Lakmahal and art emperor Chandraguptha opens his new [exhibit](https://www.instagram.com/p/Daz%5FSSqGnAW/?ref=examiner.media) at Saskia’s. Then move from your head into your body at the Tamil-Afro DJ [nite](https://www.instagram.com/p/DbAt-N3t24T/?ref=examiner.media). 

Colombo literary festival opens this weekend. Get Orwellian with our culture minister, who [shares his plans](https://colombolitfest.lk/events/346d8fc3-1a51-43d9-bda0-ff80cc573b0a?ref=examiner.media) for shaping our culture. Or even more dystopian — lawyer Sumanthiran [talking](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/kaushalya-ariyarathne-8a16a7127%5Fcolombolitfest2026-clf2026-southasianpolitics-activity-7485741394234351616-wXio?utm%5Fsource=share&utm%5Fmedium=member%5Fdesktop&rcm=ACoAADedMdUBB31bLW10EVUVWNe32dyeR8mRWW8) about literature. Dissect [today’s Lankan literature](https://colombolitfest.lk/events/98f7dd2e-c65f-4ea9-8823-14dbfcd10b2b?ref=examiner.media), and from the editor of the spiffy Ceylon Journal, [visualising](https://colombolitfest.lk/events/7387416a-73ba-417c-a05a-342422d98357?ref=examiner.media) D. S. Senanayake. 

On Saturday, let [writing workshops](https://colombolitfest.lk/events/44071af7-0f53-4e4b-ad6b-2d69593f15c4?ref=examiner.media), [storytelling sessions](https://colombolitfest.lk/events/36555355-ae7e-4ee8-aae2-2d2a4f29e48a?ref=examiner.media), and [reading rooms](https://colombolitfest.lk/events/7183faaa-c9f0-44cd-b54e-6f3229701a23?ref=examiner.media) look after the kids. Leave them there the whole [weekend](https://colombolitfest.lk/childrens-events?ref=examiner.media). And for the adults, [Shashi Tharoor](https://colombolitfest.lk/events?ref=examiner.media) on murder. Join in a women’s [chalk mural](https://www.instagram.com/p/Da674uOAN5O/?img%5Findex=1&ref=examiner.media) or if you’re lazy check out the film [list](https://colombolitfest.lk/film-festival?ref=examiner.media). Don’t miss the Ajay Kamalakaran ones. 

Outside the festival, actor [Peter d’Almeida](https://eventshere.lk/events/901291/Rehearsing-for-Real-Life---No-script.-No-second-takes.-Just-real-talk-about-life--love-and-dreams?ref=examiner.media), this time as himself. For music, there’s “[vocal artistry](https://www.instagram.com/p/DaKE4NnvXtR/?ref=examiner.media)” at the Goethe or Musaeus’ “[tour of legends](https://www.facebook.com/share/1AD9shVNiM/)” feat Umaria. And Vembadi Old Girls laddle out [seafood Kool](https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1kLREmpCjDa-w5XhnXpuHUCPrpmxT3i1Q?ref=examiner.media) in Wellewatte, the best place for Jaffna food in all the island.

On Sunday, Black July: a documentary based on S. Thondaman’s cutting quip, “[Sunday Sil, Monday Kill](https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story%5Ffbid=10234998390849147&id=1485695584&mibextid=wwXIfr&rdid=UTFIww8ad3C6fund#).” Or walk through history instead in [Kelaniya](https://www.instagram.com/p/Dawu%5F8zoztl/?ref=examiner.media) or [Colombo](https://www.instagram.com/p/DbCzkxGoZMC/?ref=examiner.media). 

The lit fest continues through the week. Take sick leave for sessions on [nature](https://colombolitfest.lk/events/d1d1c29d-f18a-4da5-80b0-ad09f778f60c?ref=examiner.media), [borders](https://colombolitfest.lk/events/16eec1a3-3c6e-4d8e-ac65-049266e6c822?ref=examiner.media), and Sri Lankan [Sci-Fi](https://colombolitfest.lk/events/e0e4aa51-188c-435c-bd6d-3144e53e6483?ref=examiner.media). Or on Wednesday the archaeologists' poya *bana:* [Buddhist heritage](https://colombolitfest.lk/events/ab46e31e-4bff-45f3-a412-43dc6793e304?ref=examiner.media) and its [discontents](https://colombolitfest.lk/events/66b16ba1-3833-4e55-a534-748e4c2a97b1?ref=examiner.media). 

Later this week the George Keyt foundation opens up Westminster House, the UK envoy’s bungalow, to [show](https://www.instagram.com/p/Da4xWqGjsp1/?img%5Findex=1&ref=examiner.media) 19th century paintings of Ceylon. 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/56/2b/562b4f8e-9dd1-43bb-a213-bc1615650661/content/images/2026/07/data-src-image-d7973b7f-cdd2-4642-8470-694cef1f2f37.jpeg)

*What to read*

Crows and cockroaches — South Asian politicians love to be pests. Read Arundhati Roy on [India’s Aragalaya](https://thewire.in/rights/cockroach-democracy-unarmed-and-dangerous?ref=examiner.media). 

Also, [books](https://www.equinoxpub.com/projects/selected-writings-of-allan-bennett-bhikkhu-ananda-metteyya?ref=examiner.media) on Allan Bennet, the [British Buddhist](https://www.equinoxpub.com/projects/life-allan-bennett-bhikkhu-ananda-metteyya?ref=examiner.media) who thought Burmese Buddhism was purer than ours. Colombo aunties come together to unpack school trauma, with this [book](https://books.google.lk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=%5FDuhEQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=sri+lanka&ots=gZwvoLPrrj&sig=7lXhDW8tDSZJta-qRX-yj%5FIN3Tc&redir%5Fesc=y&ref=examiner.media) on how the Visakhas and Bishops of this country made respectable ladies out of you.

Indian journalist Narayan Swamy went [inside](https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/73280.M%5FR%5FNarayan%5FSwamy?ref=examiner.media) the LTTE’s elusive mind. Now he tries his [hand](https://www.jaffnamonitor.com/featured/united-but-vulnerable-jvp-faces-an-uncertain-electoral-future/?ref=examiner.media) at the JVP. Meanwhile, for fallen journalist DBS, a [tribute](https://polity.lk/dbs-jeyaraj-the-witness-in-exile-ruben-thurairajah/?ref=examiner.media). Manjula Gajanayake successfully [roasts](https://www.themorning.lk/articles/CPHfVoUzDspwdqjuAaRW?ref=examiner.media) both the NPP and the BASL.