Sri Lanka Reading List

Wild Sri Lanka | By Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne
This in-depth primer to Sri Lanka’s most sought-after wildlife includes stories, descriptions of the parks and reserves by habitat type, a wildlife watching calendar and a handy guide to specific habitats for blue whales, sperm whales, leopards, Asian elephants and sloth bears.

Birds of Sri Lanka (Helm Wildlife Guides) | By Deepal Warakagoda, Uditha Hettige & Himesha Warakagoda (2022)
This new photographic field guide provides full coverage of over 330 species on the Sri Lanka list. Concise text for each species and accompanying photographs gives information on distribution, habitat, status, size, and calls.

Pocket Photo Guide to the Mammals of Sri Lanka | By Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne
With clear color photographs and brief, authoritative descriptions Bloomsbury’s field guide to Sri Lanka depicts 40 of the island’s most common mammals with clear color photographs and brief descriptions.

This Divided Island, Life, Death and the Sri Lankan War | By Samanth Subramanian
Through travels and conversations, New Delhi-based journalist Subramanian covers the 30-year history of the Tamil Tiger guerrillas, their struggle and how their civil war may be remembered.

Running in the Family | By Michael Ondaatje
Award-winning author Ondaatje returns to his native Sri Lanka in this hypnotic travelogue. His lovingly traced family memoirs are interspersed with poetry and ruminations on the island’s post-colonial history.

Serendip: My Sri Lankan Kitchen | By Peter Kuruvita
Acclaimed chef Peter Kuruvita reaches deep into kitchen experiences with his grandmother and aunties, and has travelled the markets and stalls of the lush green island, to bring us this comprehensive collection of Sri Lankan recipes and a host of heart-warming stories.

What the Buddha Taught | By Walpola Sri Rahula
A classic account of Theravada Buddhism by a respected monk and scholar from Sri Lanka. Provides translations from original texts with explanations for Western readers. A good foundation for any visitor to Southeast Asia.

Island of a Thousand Mirrors | By Nayomi Munaweera
A passionate portrait of place, Munaweera’s debut novel follows the lives of two ordinary Sri Lankans as they are shaped by a brutal civil war. Winner of the Commonwealth Book Prize for Asia.

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida | by Shehan Karunatilaka
The 2022 Booker Prize winning novel is set in Sri Lanka during the civil troubles in the 1980s. It follows the dead central character, a photographer, as he travels between the real world and the afterlife trying to persuade his friends to share a set of photographs that would expose the brutality of the Civil War. The tale is comic, surreal, satirical, part ghost story, and part whodunnit.

Know Before You Go