Adilah Ismail

Lead writer for MAS Holdings' 30-year anniversary coffee table book.

Mohamed Hanif was my first Galle Lit Fest interview ten years ago so interviewing him again was an interesting exercise. We spoke about Red Birds and journalism. I am a little less starstruck and breathy with my platitudes in this 2019 interview. Just a little.

Anuk Arudpragasam on his debut novel, "The Story of a Brief Marriage",

Profiles of Sri Lankan architects featured in Architectural Digest India's anniversary issue.

In a corner of Colombo, time caught up with a renowned gatekeeper of time. K. Don Willie & Sons, horologists who have been repairing, restoring and conserving timepieces for decades, closed down in 2017.

Shankari Chandran’s Song of the Sun God is a sensitive, fast-paced read and easily a noteworthy addition to Sri Lankan English fiction. She speaks about writing about Tamil society in Sri Lanka at a particular point in time, how her work as a lawyer informed her writing and more.

A snapshot of contemporary Sri Lankan architecture for Vogue India's anniversary issue.

A convoluted inheritance of its colonial past, Sri Lanka’s tea industry has been sculpted with increasing global competition and market volatility and is central to the country’s narrative. This is a glimpse of the man who made Ceylon Tea into a household brand.

Edit: revisiting this years later has been an exercise in self-reflection and a reminder to better critically engage with a topic. This reads as a very rose-tinted view of Lipton and doesn't deal with the violent history of tea or critically analyze its colonial implications. Sri Lanka's tea industry tends to gloss over these.

Swarna Mallawarachchi celebrates 50 years in Sri Lankan cinema.

An essay on Eid in Sri Lanka and the cultural elements that have influenced the island's palate.

On the link between culinary memory, food narratives and identity.

In which I rekindle a love affair with the beach - my favourite thing about Colombo.

The Sapumal Foundation is a lovely, old house tucked in Colombo 7 and crammed with some of the best known names in Sri Lankan art -- probably one of the nicest art spaces in the city.

A look at two popular Facebook pages, taking steps to archive history