Mr Gunasena Withana - Founder and Managing Director
Mr. Gunasena Withana, the Founder and President of KURULU BOOK Publishers since 1980, has a remarkable and multifaceted career. In 1961, he joined the Sri Lanka Communist Party, subsequently becoming a central committee member in 1969. His engagement with the USSR commenced in the same year, leading to over 30 visits to Russia, where he attended communist party conferences across all the republics until the fall of the USSR.
In 1969, Mr. Withana established the “Janatha Lakaka Peramuna” ( People’s Writers Front), a position he held until 1998, currently serving as the senior advisor. Actively pursuing international literary connections, he secured membership in the Afro-Asian Writers Association in 1969, representing Sri Lanka. He extensively traveled to communist bloc countries and various African nations, playing a pivotal role in Afro-Asian conferences.
Recognition for his literary contributions poured in, with the Afro-Asian Writers Union presenting him with the prestigious “LOTUS Award” in 1980, making him the first Sri Lankan to receive this honor. The Russian Writers Union also acknowledged his efforts, bestowing numerous awards for promoting Russian books among the Sri Lankan community.
In 1994, Mr. Withana founded the Sri Lankan Book Development Council, serving as its inaugural President. His initiatives, including the annual “International Book Fair” in Sri Lanka, created a platform for local and international publishers to showcase their works to the Sri Lankan community.
Acknowledging the importance of safeguarding writer’s rights, he assumed the role of President of the Sri Lankan Censor Board in 1990. Throughout his prolific writing career, he authored over 200 children’s books, short stories, and novels, some of which were translated into Russian and Ukrainian.
Mr. Withana’s dedication to promoting Russian literature continued through the People’s Writers Front, facilitating the translation of USSR books published by Progress and MIR Publishers for Sinhala readers in Sri Lanka.
At present, KURULU BOOK Publishers stands as the primary source for Sri Lankan readers seeking Russian books, with Mr. Gunasena Withana overseeing a collection of over 300 Russian book publications, further solidifying his role in promoting Russian literature among Sri Lankan readers.
Associate Professor Chandana Withana – Chairman
Chandana is an Associate Professor with the School of Computing and Mathematics at Charles Sturt University, Australia. Prior to this, he was a lecturer at the United Arab Emirates University in UAE, Multimedia University in Malaysia and also the Informatics Institute of Technology (IIT), Sri Lanka. He gained his undergraduate and postgraduate degrees from St Petersburg State Electrotechnical University in the early 90s and completed his PhD studies at the Multimedia University in Malaysia. He is an active researcher in the areas of computer architecture, digital systems, and modeling and simulation”. He has published more than 250 research articles in computing and engineering journals and conferences proceedings. He has co-authored two books entitled ‘Digital Systems Fundamentals’ and ‘Computer Systems Organization and Architecture’ published by Prentice Hall. He is a senior member of the IEEE Computer Society.
