Everystory Sri Lanka is a feminist storytelling and knowledge-sharing collective based in Sri Lanka and working across South Asia.

This is our flagship project: Stories of Sri Lankan Women. Through this work, we aim to gather as many stories as possible of inspirational Sri Lankan women born in the 20th and 21st century whose lives, work, and experience have and have been shaped by our social, political, and cultural contexts. At this stage, we intend to create a compendium of Sri Lankan women’s stories drawing out synergies across places and contexts, spotlighting on catalytic moments, and exploring where and how we can tell feminist histories.

About the Work

In October 2021, we launched the first thirty stories collected through this work to the public. The collection, development, publishing, and launching of these stories have all been made possible by the generous support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Sri Lanka and the Maldives. We are proud to present into the public domain the first thirty stories from the Stories of Sri Lankan Women project.

The women featured in this first phase are diverse, and each has her own compelling journey to share. We intentionally chose to highlight stories of women currently living and based in Sri Lanka or who have been for a greater portion of their lives. The stories span across generations, industries, experiences, race, ethnicity, religion, and historical contexts. It is by no means meant to be an exhaustive list of any kind, but rather, a glimpse of the phenomenal herstories that exist.

Through this mailing list, we will share with you the stories from the first phase of our work as they are concurrently released on our social media accounts.

You can follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn (where you can find tri-lingual summaries of each of the stories as well) and our Medium page.

Read the Stories

A Voice for the Voiceless: Chamila Thushari | by Everystory Sri Lanka | Nov, 2021 | Medium — everystorysrilanka.medium.com

"We have built a strong community of support as a result of our advocacy. I worked very hard for the rights of textile workers, to fight for justice and for fairness... I wouldn’t have had the chance to achieve this if I had not become involved in this work and decided to stay at home.”

-Chamila Thushari (Program Coordinator: Dabindu Collective)

The Story Behind the Storyteller- Mandana Ismail | by Everystory Sri Lanka | Nov, 2021 | Medium — everystorysrilanka.medium.com

“Patriotism is a personal feeling. You don’t always wear it on your sleeve. And sometimes, you stand for different things as a patriot. To me, a patriot is someone who loves the country so much that you want to unify the country, a citizen that calls themselves Sri Lankan. That is what patriotism is to me—standing by each other.”

-Mandana Ismail Abeywickrema (Journalist, Editor in Chief- The Sunday Morning Sri Lanka)

‘Both Sides of the Coin’: The Multifaceted Life and Career of Iyanthi Goonewardena | by Everystory Sri Lanka | Nov, 2021 | Medium — everystorysrilanka.medium.com

“Every setback has an opportunity. So if you're a positive-minded person, you take every setback as an opportunity.”

-Iyanthi Goonewardena (Executive Chef and Founder/Managing Director of Win-Stone School of Culinary Arts (Pvt) Ltd)

Love Through Music: Bridget Halpé | by Everystory Sri Lanka | Nov, 2021 | Medium — everystorysrilanka.medium.com

“I am with all humility, still a simple teacher, passionate about music, and passionate about creating great musicians!”

-Bridget Halpé (Music Teacher and Director, Peradeniya University Singers & Kandy Junior Singers)

Do not miss reading these stories

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If you have any questions, suggestions, feedback or would like to support this work please email us at [email protected]