Born in 1921, James Shedden-Goonewardene was the son of a police inspector serving in the remote town of Pannala (in Sri Lanka's northwestern province). After his birth the family moved to Matara, in the south, where they spent several years before moving again to the residential (predominantly English-speaking) Harmer's Avenue in Wellawatte, Colombo. Goonewardene, a Methodist, was sent to school nearby at St Peter's College, a Catholic school, where he would get very angry when schoolmates called him by his Eurasian moniker “Shedden”. Significantly, after leaving school he dropped the name Shedden – using his Sinhala name “Goonewardene” to identify himself with the numerical majority of the country. In fact, although there …
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Citation: Rambukwella, Prashani. "James Goonewardene". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 03 May 2005 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1808, accessed 22 November 2024.]
