About Binendri Perera
Binendri Perera is a Sri Lankan author who has published six novels in Sinhala. She won the Godage Award for the Best Novel Contribution of the year in 2009 for her novel Nuwanakkari. Her most recent novel Maya Pura Devi Kumariya was published in 2020 by Surasa Publishers. She is a lawyer and an academic by profession. She teaches at the Department of Public and International, University of Colombo. She teaches constitutional law, public international law, and human rights law.
Binendri researched and wrote extensively on people’s pro-democracy movements. She published ‘People’s Movements as a Strand of Popular Constitutionalism: Driving Forces, Distinctive Features, and Dilemmas’ in the Washington Journal of International Law in 2020.
She is currently on study leave to read for her D.Phil. in Law at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom. She read for her LL.M. at the Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Massachusetts where she was a Cogan Scholar (2018/19). She completed her LL.B. at the Faculty of Law of the University of Colombo in 2016.
Insights
My guest on the blog today is Binendri Perera, a lawyer and Academician by profession. Well known as a published author of the books “Her Truth“, “Maya Pura Devi Kumariya” and “Nuwanakkari“. Winner of the Godage Award for the Best Novel Contribution of the Year in 2009.
To explore more of my author interview series, visit my blog’s “Meet The Authors“ Section.
Let’s dive into an ingenious talk and gain insights about Binendri Perera..!!
Q. How easy was it to become an author, coming from a lawyer and academician? How well do you enjoy your writing ability?
Binendri: I was an author first because I published my first book when I was fourteen. By the time I started studying law for my undergraduate degree, I had already published five novels – in my mother tongue Sinhala. Studying law transformed the content that I wanted to write about in my novels.
I enjoy storywriting very much. As an academic, my profession also involves a lot of writing that needs a lot of planning and outlining. In contrast, I find story writing spontaneous and exciting.
Q. What does bookish success mean to you? Does your family support your career as a writer?
Bookish success for me is hearing or reading
comments from readers who absolutely love my work.
Binendri: My family is very supportive of my career. My mother contacted publishers and printers for me when I wanted to publish my first novel. Even for ‘Her Truth,’ my mother has encouraged me every step of the way. Even when I was faltering, my mother told me to keep trying to find an agent. My father has been a bit skeptical. But he was one of the first people to read ‘Her Truth’ and he supported me in his own way.
Q. Did you face any challenges while drafting your recent book? Walk us through your research and analysis that has undergone for the book.
Binendri: Because this story follows the progression of a pro-democracy movement, there are many characters from several generations. I had to make sure the story did not become too crowded and confusing as a result.
The story is based on the research I did on pro-democracy movements around the world for my academic research. I felt that academic forms of writing could not fully express the beauty, bravery, and dangers of these people’s movements. So I transformed my research to create the fictional land of Tarusti.
Q. How do you get into your character’s head? How do you get out?
Binendri: When I write stories I live and breathe with the characters. They’re with me until I am done with their story. I generally read what I wrote the previous time and then I am back in the scene with my characters.
Q. Do you take any personal care in naming your plot characters or the names being used in the novel are purely coincidental?
Binendri: It is a purely intuitive process where I go through lists of South Asian names and decide ‘Ah this character sounds like a Shreya. He sounds like a Chanuk.’ I also try to make sure that the names do not link with people around me, especially the villains.
Q. What inspired the idea of “Her Truth”? Which of the characters do you relate to the most and why?
Binendri: My fascination with the people’s pro-democracy movements inspired ‘Her Truth.’ I relate to Natharie the most because she’s also a lecturer like me.
Q. What has been the toughest criticism you have received as an author? What has been the best compliment?
Binendri: The harshest comment was that I was repetitive in how I described my scenes and that my story was not progressing. It hurt at the time but it was an important comment that changed how I wrote my next novels. I think it helped in keeping ‘Her Truth’ fast-paced as well.
The best compliment is that my story played out in the reader’s mind like a movie.
Q. What’s something you’re proud of about yourself? What is something you can teach other people?
I am proud of my determination. I wrote ‘Her Truth’ in 2020, but it took me years to find an agent and a publisher. I wrote to many agencies and publishers around the world and spoke to publishers in my home Sri Lanka before I got a response from Suhail Mathur from the Book Bakers. He was super supportive in preparing documents to pitch the book and through this process, I found Alcove Publishers. They are an amazing publishing house that always prioritizes quality.
I am very happy looking back at ‘Her Truth’ and my journey, but it was long and arduous. I edited the draft countless times. Alcove Publishers did multiple drafts of the cover before we finalized this one. I am proud of my determination and grit that saw the process through. The same quality has helped me in my academic journey. I hope this is a quality that I can inspire other people with.
Q. Tell us about a unique or quirky habit of yours. If you had to describe yourself using three words, it would be ?
There are days when I go to the bookstore just to read as many blurbs on the back covers of the books to find inspiration.
- Imaginative
- Kind
- Tenacious
Q. If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self, what would it be? Why?
Don’t be afraid to trust your intuition.
Because it is generally right.
Q. Walk us through the initiatives you are being part of: “rights of persons with disabilities” and deeper insights about “Out of the Shadows”?
I have done research on the rights of persons with disabilities, especially women with disabilities, in Sri Lanka. They have generally been based on semi-structured interviews conducted with persons with disabilities who have had amazing stories of courage and resilience to share.
‘Out of Shadows’ is a report that I wrote with two of my wonderful colleagues on the rights of women with disabilities affected by war and I learned so much by being part of that project. Afterward, I continued my disability rights research in several other projects and I hope to continue such work in the future as well.
Q. Explain to us the COVID-19 impact on your personal front and your Disability centric projects.
I was luckier than many during the pandemic because I could work from home and my income was steady. I didn’t enjoy teaching online – nothing like the magic of teaching in a classroom in person. But hopefully I did my best. I was able to use the time at home to write a few stories – ‘Her Truth’ is one of them.
It was a very difficult time for persons with disabilities, even more than it usually is. I kept in touch with the friends I had worked with. I collaborated with my colleagues to write about the rights of persons with disabilities, who were most often more marginalised due to the pandemic measures.
Q. What books helped you the most when you were writing this book? What books have you read more than once in your life?
Matched trilogy by Ally Condie, which also dealt with the themes of democracy and choice, was a novel I reflected on when I was writing this story.
Another novel was George Orwell’s Animal Farm. I have read the Harry Potter series, Pride and Prejudice more than once.
Q. If you were to create a slogan for your life, what would it be? What is the best thing you have done in your life?
‘Enjoy the little things and everyday moments in life.’
The best thing I’ve done in my life is probably to keep on finding ways to return to stories no matter how busy my job is and no matter how serious the adulting gets.
Q. How do you generally promote your work? How do you use social media as an author?
I held a book launch at my college St Hilda’s in the University of Oxford in March’24 this year. I also had a book signing event in September’24 while I was in Sri Lanka for the summer break. I also promote my book through social media.
Q. Please share your social media handle(s) with us. How do you engage with your audience digitally, and how important is this interaction?
I learned to maintain an IG profile just for ‘Her Truth.’
- My IG handle is @binendri
- Twitter handle: @binendrip
- Facebook: Binendri Perera.
Social media outreach has helped me take my book to a larger audience and reach out to the Indian audience even though I’m from Sri Lanka. Sometimes social media does get overwhelming though, so I use them only through my laptop for certain periods
Links & Foot Note
Additionally, you can also go through my Author-Interview Series -> Here
My Handle: Kiran_Kumar_Adharapuram
You can also explore my Non-Fiction Section -> Here
You can also explore my other works -> Here
