Lloyd Fernando

1. Lloyd Fernando Biography BBL 3206

2. Introduction • Lloyd Fernando was born in Sri Lanka on May 31, 1926. • Followed his family to Singapore where he grew up and received his education. • When his parents decided to return to Sri Lanka, the sixteen-year-old Fernando decided to stay behind. • He continued to fund his education by taking odd jobs like working as a labourer, trishaw rider and an apprentice mechanic. • He later took part time jobs as a radio broadcasting assistant and newsreader.

3. He successfully graduated with double Honours degrees in English and Philosophy from the University of Singapore. • He later went on to acquire his PhD from the University of Leeds. • He began teaching at University of Malaya in 1967, and was head of the English Department for a period. • Whilst lecturing at the University, Fernando took up law purely by chance, and later decided to be a lawyer in order to not stop working upon reaching a retirement age.

4. In 1978, he left the academic profession to concentrate on his law profession. • He began writing at the age of fifteen. • He describes writing as taking snapshots of the society and showing the reality without being sentimental. • Fernando approaches his writing in a very disciplined manner. • He begins writing at eight in the morning , and only takes breaks for lunch and tea.

5. His works: • His first novel, Scorpion Orchid presents the story of four university friends of different ethnic background: Sabran, a Malay; Santinathan, an Indian; Guan Kheng, a Chinese; and Peter, a Eurasian. • His second novel, Green is the Colour is a story about four individuals – Sara, Yun Ming, Dahlan and Gita, again of different racial/cultural background brought together through friendship or mutual acquaintance after the bloody May 1969 riots. • The third instalment to Fernando’s prose is his sh0rt story Surja Singh, the story of a 28-year-old soldier who lives through the Japanese Occupation and later, the return of the British.