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International Women's Day: "Woman"
“Woman”. That word scares me a bit. I don’t know what it means to be a woman. No, wait. Scratch that. IÂ do know what it means to be a woman. But I don’t fit. Years ago, I was writing a weekly column for a newspaper. One day, someone asked me if I was a feminist. The question stumped me. I knew I was all for equality but I had never really bothered with the concept of feminism before. I knew the very definition of it had altered so fast over three decades. But this was a good idea for a column and hey, those were in short supply. So I…
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Tsunami alert for Sri Lanka and India due to Nicobar Island earthquake
The US Geological Survey (via BBC) reports a 7.7 Richter scale earthquake off the Nicobar Islands, NW of Sumatra. India & Sri Lanka are on tsunami alert. India predicts a 50 cm surge in sea level at the Nicobar Islands. The US Geological Survey thinks the wave energy will travel up the coast, bypass Sri Lanka & hit West Bengal. If it hits Sri Lanka, it will hit the SE coast from Hambantota to Batticaloa. Don’t panic. At least not until you are told to.Google map of Nicobar Island earthquake BBC news article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/10302735.stm
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Science Network WA article published 25/11/2009
Marisa Wikramanayake's article for Science Network WA on Dr Emma Glasson and her co-author's study on autism diagnosis rates for the Telethon Institute.
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Writing Meme: Write Anything
I’s not a Monday but I am bored. Here you go – three questions to answer: 1. List one of your writing goals for the upcoming month and how likely you are to accomplish it. Write a lot of science network wa articles? Accomplishing it is easy as far as going through my feed reader and sending off potential ideas to my editor, getting the ok and then contacting the people involved. Then I freak out about interviewing them, interview them and then I freak out about writing the articles. My editor gets them though. 2. What genre or subject you would like to write about that you aren’t currently?…
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Link List Love: 26/10/2009
Marisa Wikramanayake lists what she has experienced/consumed/done for the past week or so in terms of reading, writing, music, gaming and more.
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16 Things I Learnt From Being A Columnist
I’ve been writing the Perth Diary column for four years now. Four years is a long time. So I thought I’d share what I have learnt while writing the dashed thing. When in doubt, especially if your column covers a beat that isn’t politics, sports or finance specific, write about your cat or dog. People seem to love your pet’s idiosyncrasies, primarily because one thing people love hearing about is how something makes trouble for someone else but not for them. You can only pull this off if you are willing to be sarcastic about yourself though, along the lines of “Yes, I know I am Muggins but I love…
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Perth Diary: 11/10/2009
Marisa Wikramanayake writes about what it means to be a member of the Media Entertaininment and Arts Alliance (the union for the media and publishing industries in Australia) for the 11th October 2009 edition of her weekly column Perth Diary. Perth Diary is published once a week in the Sri Lankan newspaper The Sunday Leader and is reproduced online in full for free at The Sunday Leader's website and Marisa's website at http://www.marisa.com.au where you can find her other work as a freelance writer, journalist and editor.
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Perth Diary for 6th Sept 2009 is online
Marisa Wikramanayake's latest installment of the Perth Diary column has been published in the Sunday Leader. This week she discusses the problem of writing for a living and supporting oneself while doing so.
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Regarding The Perth Diary Column
Hi, I figured I should let people know what’s happening. I have not written any Perth Diary articles/columns for a month now. What happened? Well, creatively speaking – I am burnt out. But also, I am slightly fed up. It is not easy to write a weekly column without any editorial guidance as to word length or content. My emails to my contact at the paper regarding this, never get answered. Given that I only need one email stating all this from them not constant weekly communication – I don’t think this is much to ask for. So after scraping the bottom of the barrel – hey, I have done…
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My Thoughts On The War Ending …
Marisa Wikramanayake is a Sri Lankan born, Australian based writer. Here she discusses the possibilities that lie ahead for Sri Lanka's future after the war.
