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Author Archives: A S H Smyth

Hat trick ball

My mate Howard has found a cricket ball in his aunt’s attic… — For The Critic

NEWS AT A GLANCE

. The Irish language still lingers in the Bahamas among the mixed descendants of the Hibernian patriots banished by Cromwell to the West Indies. One can occasionally hear black sailors in the London docks, who cannot speak a work of English, talking Irish to the old applewomen whom they meet, and thus making themselves intelligible […]

The One That Got Away – Thusith Wijedoru

The Sri Lankan sports photographer talks about the greatest shot he never got… and one he did. — For the Sri Lankan Sunday Times

State of the nation

Review of Andrew Fidel Fernando’s debut book Upon a Sleepless Isle, which has just won Sri Lanka’s Gratiaen Prize (2019) for English-language literature. — For The Critic

NEWS AT A GLANCE

. Only six percent. of all paper produced is used for making books. — The Nelson Evening Mail, Monday, February 18 1907 . The Bombay Harmonium Company are neither from Bombay nor do they manufacture or stock harmoniums. Thor Heyerdahl was right. Only 38% of Netflix content is available outside the US. Penguins can shoot […]

The One That Got Away – David Blacker

The Sri Lankan writer and photographer talks about the greatest photo he never got… and one he did. — For the Sri Lankan Sunday Times

The One That Got Away – Kesara Ratnavibhushana

The Sri Lankan artist and photographer talks about the greatest shot he never got… and one he did. — For the Sri Lankan Sunday Times

NEWS AT A GLANCE

. The veddahs, or wild hunters, of Ceylon mingle the pounded fibres of soft and decayed wood with the honey on which they feed when meat is not to be obtained. — The Nelson Evening Mail, Monday, January 21 1907 . Samuel John Taylor Coleridge is the first descendant in more than two centuries to be […]

The One That Got Away – Dominic Sansoni

Sri Lanka’s pre-eminent photographer talks about the greatest photo that he never took… and one he did. — For the Sri Lankan Sunday Times

The Ones That Got Away

Introduction to a new column on photographic misfires, beginning with my own amateur misadventures. — For the Sri Lankan Sunday Times