Mr. Sirisumana Godage, Proprietor of Godage Publications, passes away

Deshabandu Sirisumana Godage, a giant in the Sri Lankan book publishing industry and the founder of S. Godage and Brothers Publishing House (Godage Book Emporium), passed away today (29).

He was 90 years old at the time of his death.

Born on May 19, 1936, in Palatuwa, a remote village in the Matara District of the Southern Province, he was the sixth child in a family of nine siblings. He received his primary education at Gunaratana Maha Vidyalaya in Palatuwa. Due to severe economic hardships faced by his family, he did not pursue further education and left his hometown around the age of 15 to come to the Kalutara area. There, he started working as a bookbinder, but suddenly lost that job.

However, the determined young Godage did not give up. In 1957, he rented a small shop room and started his journey as a joint venture with another person. He frequently visited Vidyodaya Pirivena in Maligakanda for bookbinding, where he was fortunate to receive the close association of the Chief Incumbent of Vidyodaya Pirivena, as well as the Most Venerable Balangoda Ananda Maitreya Maha Nayaka Thero. This association fostered a strong inclination towards Buddhism, which later became a significant reason for the Godage institution to produce many valuable Buddhist literary works.

Gradually developing his business and recruiting several more employees, he also began supplying books to libraries. In 1970, he moved his business premises to the Maradana area in Colombo. The 'Godage Book Emporium,' which still stands in Maradana today, was established accordingly. With the increasing demand for books, Mr. Godage also ventured into the publishing field, initially printing a children's book. Subsequently, by accepting manuscripts from various authors, he succeeded in making it one of the country's leading institutions for printing books in all three languages: Sinhala, Tamil, and English.

In recognition of his immense contribution to the Sri Lankan literary community over several decades and his invaluable service to the field of literature, Sirisumana Godage was honored with the title 'Deshabandu' by the government in 2003. Furthermore, Godage Publishing House has continuously won the State Literary Award for book publishing for 38 consecutive years, which is a unique record in the history of state awards. In 2022 alone, they won five awards, and they have also succeeded in winning state awards for printing Tamil and English works in addition to Sinhala.

His contribution, through the Godage Literary Awards ceremony and the Godage Manuscript Competition, in recognizing both new and veteran writers, created a tremendous revitalization in the country's literary field. Mr. Godage, who successfully carried out these endeavors with his wife, Mrs. Nanda Godage, will be remembered in history as an exemplary and humble businessman who came from a remote village and, through his boundless dedication, reached the pinnacle of the publishing industry in Sri Lanka.