W. A. Silva

Wellawatte Arachchige Abraham Silva, popularly known as W. A. Silva, (16 January 18903 May 1957). Wikipedia follows the convention adopted by most modern historical writing of retaining the dates according to the Julian calendar but taking the year as starting on 1 January rather than 25 March. (According to the Gregorian calendar that was used in most of Europe, he was born on 28 July 1635 and died on 14 March 1703. The deviation between the calendars grew from ten to eleven days between his birth and his death because the Julian calendar had a 29 February 1700 but the Gregorian calendar did not. For a more detailed explanation, see Calendar (New Style) Act 1750.)|name="dual dating"}} was a best-selling author of Sinhalese literature. Born in Wellawatte, Colombo, his career began with his first novel, ''Siriyalatha'', written at the age of 16 after receiving a formal Sinhalese education.

He studied Sanskrit and Sinhala under Pelane Sri Vajiragnana Thero and developed a habit of reading and assessing world literature in his spare time. While working as a clerk, Silva wrote his second novel ''Lakshmi'', in 1922. He continued to write popular novels and short story collections. Several of his novels include ''Kalae Handa'' (the first Sinhala novel to be made a movie) and ''Hingana Kolla'', which was also made into a movie.

Silva edited the ''Siri Sara'' (1919–1923) and ''Nuwana'' (1940–1946) magazines, as well as a weekly newspaper, ''Lanka Samaya'' (1933). After his death, High Street in Wellawatte was renamed W. A. Silva Mawatha in his honour.

His residence 'Silvermere' at No. 126, W A Silva Mawatha, Wellawatte has been turned into a museum containing artifacts of his time, hand written manuscripts, copies of novels, and other memorabilia. Provided by Wikipedia