Martin Wickramasinghe, MBE was a professional and an important Sri Lankan novelist born in the Southern village of Koggala, bounded on one side by the reef – fringed sea, and on the other by the large lake into which the numerous tributaries of the Koggala Oya drain. The landscapes of the sea, lake studded with little islands, the flora and fauna, the forested hinterland, and the changing patterns of life and culture of the people of the village were the background of his early years, that Martin Wickramasinghe later immortalized in his novels and short stories and autobiographical writings.