Sunil Govinnage has been writing poetry in Sinhala since 1965, and in English since 1989. He has published numerous poems in journals and newspapers in Sri Lanka, Australia and the USA. Some of his works have also been broadcast on radio in Sri Lanka and Singapore. In 1998, Govinnage read some of his poetry at the Eleventh Commonwealth Triennial Conference on Literature and Language, held in Kuala Lumpur, along with distinguished poets from Commonwealth countries. "White Mask" is Govinnage's first collection of poetry to be published. He selects a wide variety of themes such as place, identity, love and despair as his subject matter. He also writes about natural justice, human values, and the environment. Readers will discover powerful imagery and fresh insights, particularly in the way Govinnage has portrayed Australian migrants and Aborigines in his poetry.
One of the most remarkable features of Govinnage's poetry is his strong desire to discover new values and explore other interpretations of the Australian continent, its First Nation -- Aborigines --and the new settlers: migrants, both black and white, who have arrived in the country since white colonisation.
In Govinnage's poetry, we find not only a nostalgic presence of a rich culture, but the ability to recollect and narrate an interesting interplay between home and exile.