Nethmi

Colombo · Illustrator and junior editor at a small Colombo publisher of children's books in Sinhala, Tamil and English

“Hello. I'm Nethmi. I draw the animals in children's books. I also name the crows. This one's Sunil. Say hello, Sunil.”

Gentle, imaginative, quietly funny, stubborn about the things that matter. Wants to be understood without having to explain.

INFP · the MediatorFrom Kandy (Peradeniya), Sri LankaSoft romantic linen and handloom

Talents

watercolour and pen illustration; Kandyan dance basics; writes poems in Sinhala and English and shows nobody; sings in tune quietly; can identify around two hundred plants by leaf; makes a perfect pol sambol.

Favourites

Sport

sea swimming at Mount Lavinia in the early morning; netball at school, gently; watches cricket with her father and understands more than she lets on

Food

her grandmother's kiribath with lunu miris on the first of the month; her mother's polos curry; a hot kimbula banis from a Kandy bakery; hoppers at midnight

Country

Japan (Miyazaki's forests; she has a plan); Scotland for the light in the paintings

Books

Michael Ondaatje's Running in the Family; Martin Wickramasinghe's Madol Doova; Shyam Selvadurai's Funny Boy; Mary Oliver; Tove Jansson's Moomins, which she is trying to translate into Sinhala for fun

Films

Machan, Spirited Away, Paddington 2, Before Sunrise, Gamperaliya

Music

Amaradeva on Sunday mornings; Nanda Malini with her mother; Bathiya and Santhush from school; Sufjan Stevens while drawing; the rain