Our History
ACLALS (the Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies) was started in 1964 with a conference at the University of Leeds and was officially accredited to the Commonwealth in 2005.
The Sri Lanka branch of ACLALS, the Sri Lanka Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies (SLACLALS), was created in the late 1970s when the writer James Goonewardene who had attended the conference in Leeds suggested to Professor Ashley Halpé and others to set up a branch of ACLALS in Sri Lanka. Except for a period when DCRA Goonetilleke was Chair of SLACLALS, he held this position for a number of years before retiring at the triennial meeting held in 2010. DCRA Goonetilleke had the distinction of being the Chair of ACLALS in the early 1990s and the Triennial Conference, which was held at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute in 1995, attracted a number of distinguished scholars from around the world.
The Sri Lanka branch of ACLALS, the Sri Lanka Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies (SLACLALS), was created in the late 1970s when the writer James Goonewardene who had attended the conference in Leeds suggested to Professor Ashley Halpé and others to set up a branch of ACLALS in Sri Lanka. Except for a period when DCRA Goonetilleke was Chair of SLACLALS, he held this position for a number of years before retiring at the triennial meeting held in 2010. DCRA Goonetilleke had the distinction of being the Chair of ACLALS in the early 1990s and the Triennial Conference, which was held at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute in 1995, attracted a number of distinguished scholars from around the world.