Khulsum Edirisinghe

Khulsum Edirisinghe was a teacher of English and Literature at Asian International School (AIS) Sri Lanka for over twenty years. Her writings and poetry have been published in India, the USA, Singapore and Sri Lanka and her biography was included in 'Celebrating Sri Lankan Women’s English Writing' edited by Dr. Yasmine Gooneratne. She also introduced and taught Values Education, an interdisciplinary approach to religious education at AIS. She is a certified Pranic Healing therapist.

Khulsum now assists in the development of training courses on mindfulness for teachers and conducts meditation programs in Sri Lanka.

Reviews of previous writings:

Jean Arasanayagam - Winner of the Gratiaen Prize (2017) and veteran Sri Lankan writer:

- The Sunday Leader

“Having read poems by Khulsum Edirisinghe in the past published by the New Lankan Review and Channels – journals which have given both reader and writer a perennial source of inspiration, I was always searching for more of her poems which held a particular fascination for me. I wanted to read more of her work…These are poems of exploration and discovery and the reader travels with the writer through a terrain which continually yields new twists and turns. It is very much an interior journey … and the traveler has to go far, far beyond the usual well-trodden pathways and well-thumbed maps.”

Alfreda de Silva – well-known Sri Lankan writer:

- The Sunday Times

“Khulsum’s involvement with the arts has given her a fertile base for her poetry … Her voice is distinctly individual … Khulsum has a gift for creating atmosphere and drawing the reader into the poem … One sincerely hopes that with her talent, sensitivity and long exposure to the study of literature, dance and philosophy, she will return to the Muse whose poems await her.”

Review of The Allegory of the Desert (Living Magazine, Sri Lanka)

"This is an intense booklet which explores an interesting path to self-fulfillment for those who have lost their emotional and spiritual centre … This is not one of those uplifting ‘how to’ affairs that offer a quick fix for emotional and spiritual problems that overshadow our lives at various points in time. Instead, it’s a book that hold the hand of those who have descended into ‘the dark night’… The most significant words for me are to ‘learn to abide in stillness and in a state of perpetual watchfulness...’”