Lal Medawattegedara

MA in English, University of Peradeniya; BA in English and English Language Teaching, OUSL.

Senior Lecturer

Dept. of Language Studies

Teacher of English Literature, English Language and Creative Writing. Researcher of folktales and gender. Fiction writer

Positions held at OUSL

♦ Language Editor, OUSL Journal: 2019 to present

♦ Editor-in-chief, OPEN Magazine, the OUSL newsletter: 2019 to 2021

♦ Conceptualizer and Editor-in-Chief the Special Edition of the OUSL Newsletter created for the Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU) 2021 Conference held in Sri Lanka
https://aaou2020.ou.ac.lk/open-quarterly.html

♦ Acting Director Public Information Office, OUSL: February 2021 to June 2021

♦ President, Senior Common Room, OUSL: 2020 to present

♦ Committee Member OUSL Research Sessions: 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022

♦ Representative Library and Information Science for the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences: 2016 to 2022

♦ Representative OUSL COVID-19 Responsive Task Force for the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences: 2020 to present

♦ Convener for OUSL’s 30^thAnniversary International Research Conference, 2012

External Positions

♦ A Syllabus Designer for subject Appreciation of English Literary Textsfor GCE Ordinary Level (Local) 2015

♦ Resource Person in English Language Teaching for National Youth Corps (NYC)

♦ Resource Person for Creative Writing, GCE Advanced Level & Ordinary Level (Local) English Literature

website : https://lalm.lk/

Areas of Specialization

English Literature, Creative Writing and Folklore

Research Interests

Folklore: Folktales; Gender: Feminine and Masculine

Programme/Course Coordination

Programme Coordination:
BA in English and English Language Teaching Level 03

Course Coordination:
BA in English and English Language Teaching Level 03

Research

Awards Research:

Winner OUSL Research Award: 2017
Winner OUSL Research Award: 2019
Winner OUSL Research Award: 2020

National Awards: Fiction

Winner Gratiaen Prize 2012 for the novel Playing Pillow Politics at MGK

https://www.ft.lk/Lifestyle/lal-medawattegedera-wins-the-2012-gratiaen-prize/8-149984

https://www.sundaytimes.lk/210516/plus/a-parody-of-all-stories-443833.html

https://www.sundaytimes.lk/160110/plus/the-author-writes-what-he-wants-to-write-his-way-178127.html

https://www.life.lk/article/events/writing-for-the-love-of-it-/41/5114

https://www.ft.lk/ft-lite/playing-pillow-politics-at-mgk-launched/6-224832

https://www.sundaytimes.lk/140216/plus/a-fantastical-lankan-novel-85593.html

Short-listed Gratiaen Prize 2021 for the novel Restless Rust

https://www.dailymirror.lk/news-features/The-2020-Gratiaen-Shortlist-Between-A-Mind-Game-and-Restless-Rust/131-213067

https://www.themorning.lk/celebrating-the-diversity-of-the-english-language/

Short-listed Gratiaen Prize 2002 for the short story collection The Window Cleaner’s Soul

Ongoing Research:

Air Mobility, Ten Heads and Universal Authority: Constructing Ravana in the Folk Imagination of Sabaragamua — a FolkoricStudy

Books/Book Chapters

Book Reviews

Review of Return to Sri Lanka, Travels in a Paradoxical Island by Razeen Sally, a travelogue that combines personal and national history. https://www.dailynews.lk/2020/02/19/tc/211805/writer-who-never-%E2%80%98left%E2%80%99-%E2%80%98return%E2%80%99?page=14
The writer who never ‘left’ to ‘return’ at https://www.dailynews.lk/2020/02/19/tc/211805/writer-who-never-%E2%80%98left%E2%80%99-%E2%80%98return%E2%80%99?page=14: Review of “Return to Sri Lanka, Travels in a Paradoxical Island” by Razeen Sally
Review of I Flew Over the Mountain: My Story of Triumph over Poliby Raja Arambewela, a memoire on author’s struggle to live with polio. http://www.dailynews.lk/2021/01/13/tc/238594/making-hole-comfortable
Making a hole comfortable at http://www.dailynews.lk/2021/01/13/tc/238594/making-hole-comfortable: Review of “I Flew Over the Mountain: My Story of Triumph over Polio” by Raja Arambewela

Media Interviews

Interview with the Vice Chancellor of OUSL on the OUSL initiative to host the international academic conference of the Open Universities

https://www.elanka.com.au/open-distance-learning-promise-of-enhanced-learning-for-the-future-i-by-lal-medawattegedara

Media Articles

Interview with the Vice Chancellor of OUSL on the OUSL initiative to host the international academic conference of the Open Universities

https://www.elanka.com.au/open-distance-learning-promise-of-enhanced-learning-for-the-future-i-by-lal-medawattegedara

Article on the first Open University Research Sessions conducted via Zoom platform in 2020.

https://www.sundaytimes.lk/201122/plus/zoom-is-the-name-of-the-game-423122.html

Workshops

Creative writing workshop for the British Council at Nuga Gama, Cinnamon Grand Colombo 3 December 2023

Creative Writing Workshop for the Galle Children’s Festival

https://www.sundayobserver.lk/2021/09/26/montage/%E2%80%9Cwrite-back%E2%80%9D-online-workshop-young-writers-gratiaen-trust

Creative writing workshop for the British Council new branch at Orion City 27 August 2017

https://www.britishcouncil.lk/events/creative-writing-workshop-adults-orion-city

https://www.sundaytimes.lk/210926/plus/gratiaen-trust-workshop-for-budding-young-writers-456089.html

Creative Writing Workshop for Gratiaen Trust – 26 September 2021

https://www.sundaytimes.lk/210926/plus/gratiaen-trust-workshop-for-budding-young-writers-456089.html

Publications in indexed journals

Research:

Medawattegedara, L. (2022).“A Sri Lankan Arrives in Hell”: A Case of Laughing at ‘Sri Lanka’ and the ‘Sri Lankan’ in a Collection of Modern Folktales in Humor and the Performance of Power in South Asia edited by Sasanka Perera and Dev Nath Pathak. Routledge India: 2022.

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003097549-8/sri-lankan-arrives-hell-lal-medawattegedara

An article from www.europeanjournalofhumour.org

https://europeanjournalofhumour.org › download

https://ahsnhumourstudies.org/ahsn-digest-february-2022/

Medawattegedara, L. (2022). “A ‘Nation’ and an Ancient Flying Machine: Locating the Folkloric Significance of King Ravana’s Dadumonaraya in the Folktales of Sabaragamuwa.” Vistas Issue 1, Volume 15- 2022

http://repository.ou.ac.lk/bitstream/handle/94ousl/2342/Volume_1_2022_June-122-132.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Medawattegedara, L. (2022). “How to Read “Silence” in a Literary Text without a Teacher: ODL Learners’ Perceptions of Studying Literary Texts through the Online Mode.” OUSL Journal, Volume I7, 2, 2022.
Medawattegedara, L. (2021). Air Mobility, Ten Heads and Universal Authority: Constructing Ravana in the Folk Imagination of Sabaragamua — a Folkoric Study. OUSL Journal 2021: Volume I, No. 2.

https://ouslj.sljol.info/articles/abstract/10.4038/ouslj.v16i2.7555/

Medawattegedara, L. (2021). Nai-PolomgVairaya: Chronic Anger in an Ancient Folktale. Sadesa: Volume I, 2021
Medawattegedara, L. (2020).When Generous Gods Offer “Backhoe-Arm Load Of Gems”: Folk Ideas Found among Gem Miners of the Sabaragamuwa Region. OUSL Journal 2020: Volume 15, No 2.

https://ouslj.sljol.info/articles/abstract/10.4038/ouslj.v15i2.7502/

Medawattegedara, L. (2020). Noise of Silence: Student Perceptions of :earning War Poetry through the ODL Mode. VISTAS, Volume 13, Issue 2.

http://repository.ou.ac.lk/handle/94ousl/1803

Medawattegedara, L. (2019).“Your Majesty, your son is unable to learn?”: A Study of the Notions of ‘Learning’ and ‘Teaching’ Inscribed in a Sample of Southern Folk Tales from Ancient Lanka. OUSL Journal 2020: Volume 14, No 2.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339685763_Your_Majesty_your_son_is_unable_to_learn_A_Study_of_the_Notions_of_’Learning’_and_’Teaching’_Inscribed_in_a_Sample_of_Southern_Folk_Tales_from_Ancient_Lanka

https://ouslj.sljol.info/articles/abstract/10.4038/ouslj.v14i2.7474/

Medawattegedara, L. (2019).“I Started a Joke”: What do Humorous Tales Told by Female and Male Undergraduates Tell us about Their Gendered Worldview/s?. VISTAS, Volume 12, Issue1.

http://repository.ou.ac.lk/bitstream/handle/94ousl/1692/VISTAS%20Ap2019_31072019-39-48.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

http://repository.ou.ac.lk/bitstream/handle/94ousl/1688/VISTAS%20copyright%20Ap2019.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Medawattegedara, L. (2017).‘Folk Ideas’ and ‘Worldview’ Inscribed in a Selection of Folktales Attributed to the Muslim Community of the East Coast of Sri Lanka, OUSL Journal 2017: Volume 12, No 2.

https://ouslj.sljol.info/articles/abstract/10.4038/ouslj.v12i2.7396/

Medawattegedara, L. (2018).″Should my wives make a disturbance I will beat the whole of them… “: A Study of Gender-based Violence in Sinhala Folktales. Nivedini-Journal of Gender Studies Vol. 22 December 2018.

https://ou.ac.lk/researchcgee/

http://www.wercsl.org/nivedini-journal-of-gender-studies-vol-22-december-2018/

Medawattegedara, L. (2015).“We Must Make Men”1: Constructions of Masculinities and Femininities in Parker’s Village Folk Tales ofCeylon.OUSL Journal 2015: Volume 9.

https://ou.ac.lk/researchcgee/

https://ouslj.sljol.info/articles/abstract/10.4038/ouslj.v9i0.7330/

Medawattegedara, L. (2014). Masculinity—A Temporary Matter? Or an Open Window?: A Masculine Re-reading of the GCE A/L English Literature Anthology of Short Stories.Changing Paradigms in English Language Teaching: Selected Papers from the 7th International Conference of the Sri Lanka English Language Teachers’ Association, 2014.
Medawattegedara, L. (2012). Instrument of Power, Oppression or Deception?: The Politics of Bilingulaism in Sri Lankan Literature. VISTAS, the Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Volume 7 & 8, December 2012.

http://repository.ou.ac.lk/handle/94ousl/1508

Medawattegedara, L. (2012). Pumping Iron: The Question of Masculinity in Blue Stories for Adults. PHOENIX: Sri Lank journal of English in the Commonwealth – Volume IX 2012.

Fiction

Playing Pillow Politics at MGK, Akna: Colombo, 2012

Can you hear me running, Zeus Paperback: Colombo, 2006

The Window Cleaner’s Soul, Author Publication, 2012

Affiliations

Member – Sri Lanka English Teachers’ Association (SLELTA)

Member – Sri Lanka Association for Commonwealth Language and Literature

The Open University of Sri Lanka

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Senior Lecturer

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