Denagama Siriwardena

Who is Denagama Siriwardena?

Denagama Siriwardena is a Sri Lankan writer and journalist.

He was born on 19 February 1945 in Wepathira - Hakmana. His father was Don Nikulas Jinadasa. His mother was Karunawathi Hettiarachchi.

Denagama Siriwardena started his school career from Pananwela government school. There he studied up to year eight. After that he studied at Hamana Methodist college.

Mr. Denagama worked for a time as a Bill clerk at a co-operative shop

After that he started teaching in a non-governmental school at Pottewela and became a teacher in 1964.

From 1967-68 he studied at the Teachers' Training college - Balapitiya.

As a teacher in his life career he taught in 23 schools in 23 years. Ampara, Colombo, Matara, Hambantota, Galle were some of the districts where he worked. This helped him to gain more experiences about various life styles which exist on the earth. Most of the people he met were poors. They had a daily struggle. It was to find food for their children. So from these experiences Mr. Siriwardena became sensitive to the heart beats of poors.

In 1975 Mr. Siriwardena married Kusum Kodithuwakku. They moved to Hambantota that year.

In 1976 he published his first book.