{{Short description|German writer (1925–2016)}} {{EngvarB|date=December 2016}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}} {{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see :Template:Infobox writer/doc --> | name = Anne Ranasinghe | awards = State Literary Award 1994 | image = | caption = | birth_name = Anneliese Katz | birth_date = {{Birth date|1925|10|02|df=y}} | birth_place = Essen, Germany | death_date = {{Death date and age|2016|12|17|1925|10|02|df=yes}} | death_place = Colombo, Sri Lanka | occupation = Poet |language= English | nationality = Sri Lankan | influences = | influenced = }} '''Anne Ranasinghe''' (born '''Anneliese Katz'''; 2 October 1925 – 17 December 2016) was a Jewish-German born Sri Lankan English-language poet. She is considered one of Sri Lanka's leading English-language poets, having won several international awards.
==Early life== Anneliese Katz was born on 2 October 1925 in Essen, Germany, to a Jewish family.<ref name="perera">{{cite news|last1=Perera|first1=Yohan|title=Anne Ranasinghe passes away|url=http://www.dailymirror.lk/article/Anne-Ranasinghe-passes-away-120912.html|accessdate=20 December 2016|work=Daily Mirror|publisher=Wijeya Newspapers Ltd|date=2016-12-19}}</ref> A victim of Nazi Germany's atrocities against Jews, she witnessed the ''Kristallnacht'' (night of broken glass), the burning of the Essen synagogue. In 1939, her parents sent her to England to an aunt she had never seen before. Within a week she was sent to a school 140 miles away to live among strangers and to learn English, a new language to her. Within six months World War II broke out and much later she learned that her parents had been murdered by the Nazis.<ref name="nurses.info">{{cite web|title=Anne Ranasinghe|url=http://www.nurses.info/media_authors_poets_anneranasinghe.htm|website=nurses.info|accessdate=20 December 2016}}</ref>
Anne completed her studies at Parkstone Grammar School and trained to become a nursing sister at Charing Cross Hospital, King's College, Moorfields, Chelsea and Burden Neurological Institute.<ref name="Simms">{{cite journal|last1=Simms|first1=Norman|title=Anne Ranasinghe: Jewish poet of Sri Lanka; Three strands in a literary corpus|journal=Journal of South Asian Literature|date=1988|volume=23|issue=1|pages=94–107|jstor=40873030}}</ref>
==Literary work== Ranasinghe began her writing career in the late 1960s after obtaining a Diploma in Journalism from Colombo Technical College.<ref name="Robinson">{{cite journal|last1=Robinson|first1=LeRoy|title=An Interview with Anne Ranasinghe on Aspects of Culture in Sri Lanka|journal=Keiei-to-keizai|date=September 1990|volume=70|issue=2|pages=39–77|url=http://naosite.lb.nagasaki-u.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/10069/28441/1/keieikeizai70_02_04.pdf|accessdate=20 December 2016}}</ref> In 1971, she published her first poem collection, ''And the Sun That Sucks The Earth to Dry''.<ref name="dailynews">{{cite news|title=Death of Anne Ranasinghe|url=http://dailynews.lk/2016/12/20/local/102442|accessdate=20 December 2016|work=Daily news|publisher=The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.|date=20 December 2016}}</ref> Some of Ranasinghe's well known poems include ''July 1983'', ''Plead Mercy'' (1974), ''A Long Hot Day'' and ''At What Dark Point'' (1970). She has published 12 books and has been translated into several languages in seven countries.<ref name="frontpage">{{cite web|title=In Memoriam: Anne Ranasinghe|url=http://www.frontpage.lk/page/In-Memoriam-Anne-Ranasinghe-/17477|website=Front Page|accessdate=20 December 2016}}</ref>
From 1975, Ranasinghe worked for the Amnesty International's South Asian Publications Service in Sri Lanka.<ref name="Robinson"/>
===Recognition=== Ranasinghe was awarded Sri Lanka Arts Council Prize for Poetry in 1985 and again in 1992 and also for non-fiction in 1987. She won the Sri Lankan State Literary Award for best collection of short stories in 1994.<ref name="loc">{{cite web|title=Anne Ranasinghe, 1925-|url=https://www.loc.gov/acq/ovop/delhi/salrp/anneranasinghe.html|publisher=The Library of Congress|accessdate=20 December 2016}}</ref> She was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, the nation's only federal civilian award.<ref name ="frontpage"/>
==Personal life== In 1949, Anne married D. A. Ranasinghe, a post-graduate student who later became a lecturer and professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Colombo Medical School, and moved to Sri Lanka.<ref name="nurses.info"/><ref name="Simms"/> She had seven children, four of her own and three from her husband's previous marriage.<ref name="Robinson"/> Her own four children are sons Ananda and Nihal, and daughters Shanthi and Renuka, all of whom live abroad.<ref name="Prins">{{cite news|last1=Prins|first1=R. Stephen|title=Birthday soirée for poet Anne Ranasinghe|url=http://www.sundaytimes.lk/101010/Plus/plus_28.html|accessdate=22 December 2016|work=Sunday Times|publisher=Wijeya Newspapers Ltd|date=October 10, 2010}}</ref>
==Death and legacy== Anne Ranasinghe died 17 December 2016 in her Colombo residence in Rosmead Place, at age of 91.<ref name="frontpage"/> Sri Lankan school children study her poems for their English literature coursework in GCE Ordinary Level.<ref name="Perera">{{cite web|last1=Perera|first1=Vihanga|title=Factors of Class-Elitism in Anne Ranasinghe's Poetry: In Defense of Some Opinions Fielded by Dhanuka Bandara|date=8 April 2015|url=https://slwakes.wordpress.com/2015/04/08/factors-of-class-elitism-in-anne-ranasinghes-poetry-a-supplement-to-some-opinions-fielded-by-dhanuka-bandara/|accessdate=20 December 2016}}</ref>
==Bibliography== * Mascot and Symbol. 1997. * Desire and other Stories. 1994, reprint 1995. * You Ask Me Why I Write Poems. 1994. * The Letter and Other Stories. 1994. * At What Dark Point. 1991, reprinted and updated 1996. * Not Even Shadows. 1991. * Against Eternity and Darkness. 1985, reprinted 1985, 1988, 1996. * Of Charred Wood Midnight Fear. 1983. * Love, Sex and Parenthood. 1978. * Plead Mercy. 1975. * With Words We Write Our Lives Past, Present, Future. 1972. * Poems - And a Sun That Sucks The Earth to Dry. 1971
Source: ''nurse.info''<ref name="nurses.info"/>
==References== {{Reflist|2}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ranasinghe, Anne}} Category:Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom Category:Emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom Category:Jewish poets Category:20th-century Sri Lankan poets Category:English-language poets Category:British emigrants to Sri Lanka Category:1925 births Category:2016 deaths Category:Recipients of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Category:People from Essen