17 February 2026 – Returning to Sri Lanka: Travels in a Paradoxical Land

Description

Razeen Sally was born to a Sri Lankan Muslim father and a Welsh mother. Just before his teens, a political conflict tore his family apart and he left Sri Lanka, barely going back for thirty years.

When he finally returned ‘home’, he spent much of the next decade crisscrossing the island, trying to understand this paradoxical place. Blessed with nature’s bounty and an easy, pleasure-loving people, it was nevertheless scarred by ethnic conflict and the violence of civil war.

As a native and a tourist, Sally makes an ideal guide to Sri Lanka’s past and present. In this lecture he will share his journeys and insights, pointing out the unmissable gems beyond the obvious spots, and unpacking the nation’s culture and history.