Nature, Art & Culture

SLT - Festival Partner of Galle International Literary Festival - 2008.
Held for only the second occasion in January 2008, the Galle International Literary Festival has been dubbed the No. 1 literary festival of its kind in the world, by the prestigious publication, Harpers Bazaar.

Drawing together an eclectic mix of local and international writers, the Festival in 2008 was launched by world famous authors Gore Vidal and Vikram Seth.
Prominent Sri Lankan literary personalities were also in attendance; people like Jean Arasanayagam, Punyakante Wijenaike, Carl Muller, Shyam Selvadurai, Yasmine Gooneratne and Neil Fernandopulle.

The primary role of language as a medium of communication, plus our desire to foster the literary arts and showcase the talent within our country, are some of the factors that led SLT to come in as a Festival Partner.

Our Environment

Making conservation a habit
Nature and the environment have been close to SLT’s heart for many years. There have been many projects over the ensuing years where the Company has espoused the cause of nature… for good reason. The equation is simple… nature destroyed means life (as we know it) destroyed.

SLT continues to be involved with the field ornithological group of Sri Lanka of the University of Colombo in their efforts to conserve the Sinharaja Forest Reserve.

Some years ago, at the Infotech Exhibition in Colombo, we organised a live webcast from the wilds right to the exhibition site. The drama this evoked helped raise valuable awareness on a subject so vitally in need of attention.

Our print material, chiefly the SLT calendar has featured the flora and fauna of Sri Lanka - not just from a pictorial perspective but an educational one as well - informing on species close to extinction, dwindling habitats etc.

In this vein the Company continues to be involved with the Field Ornithological Group of Sri Lanka (FOGSL) of the University of Colombo, in their efforts to conserve the Sinharaja Forest Reserve.

Professor Sarath Kotagama, renowned ornithologist leads the FOGSL team.
This project sees a group of 20 students and 5 teachers from participating schools, visiting the Sinharaja Reserve over two days. There, they attend a series of lectures on the history of the Reserve and valuable ‘dos’ and ‘donts’ as regards protecting this resource. Prof. Kotagama conducts a theoretical session, whilst the students are also taken on field trips.

They are then encouraged to do their own research resulting in assignments modulated by FOGSL and presented in the form of handwritten books.

Certificates are awarded at the end of each programme SLT’s aim is to make conservation a habit.