The Sri LankaNZ, a free bi-lingual community newspaper, started its journey a year ago to provide a platform for Sri Lankan writers and social media enthusiasts in New Zealand. On its first anniversary in March, 2021, the founder, Harsha Weerakoon and co-founder and designer Charith Ekanayake and media co-ordinator Anu Weerakoon recollect many milestones in its passage.
The paper publishes articles on religion, literature, history, politics, philosophy, psychology, medicine, science and other subjects of general interest.
It is a forum for new and experienced writers to publish their short stories, poems and other creative works.
The children’s page is a busy corner where schoolchildren can send their creative work on their way to be the writers of the next generation.
Many communities in New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Australia contribute to the newspaper.
The Sri LankaNZ once held an online meeting with the writers who contributed from the inception. The feedback was encouraging. Their suggestions were considered for planning the paper’s future direction.
The paper has identified many talented and young Sri Lankan writers, graphic designers, distributors, interviewers and budding journalists with the acumen for a thriving industry journey.
New Zealand is six times bigger than Sri Lanka. The printed paper, issued on two monthly basis, is distributed countrywide, mainly through the Sri Lankan business organisations in major cities; Wellington, Auckland, Hamilton, Christchurch and Dunedin.
The readership could be estimated at well over 8,000; a remarkable success for one year journey in an epidemic hit environment.
It has started networking with other Sri Lankan community organisations in New Zealand and Sri Lanka and look forward to having contacts with similar social entities in other countries.
The future plan of the Sri LankaNZ includes making it a monthly issue, hold more regular online meeting with the contributors, increase the number of the printed version, redesign its website and online version and social media platforms with more features facilitating the writers and the readers to build up a better rapport.