By Gayanga Dissanayaka –

Words – especially in printed form – have been a huge part of Marianne David’s life for as long as she can remember. She grew up in a house filled with books where she and her siblings were constantly encouraged to read. They did not have a television for the longest time and by the time they did, they didn’t care much for it. Just about every weekend would feature visits to Chinthaka Bookshop in Mount Lavinia, Vijitha Yapa Bookshop, and the Dean’s Road second-hand bookshops. They’d also go to KVG’s, the British Council, and Bibliomania occasionally.

“I have always turned to books throughout every part of my life and have to constantly restrain myself from buying as many as I would like to!” said Marianne. “I am deeply happy that I was able to instill the same intense love of reading in my daughter, having started reading to her when she was just a few days old. I don’t know what my life would have been like if not for books.”

Marianne recalls her childhood as difficult, painful and extremely challenging. “But two things were always around: my brother and books. Those early years have certainly shaped who I am, how I live, how I love, and how I write.” Today she is also a published author, with her poetry collection, I Wear My Watches Stopped published through The Jam Fruit Tree Publications.

“I have been writing for what seems like forever, starting with poetry – mostly bad love poems – and then as a journalist since 2001, when I joined The Sunday Leader newspaper, at which point I was able to start telling stories that really mattered and made a difference in people’s lives,” she said. More than 25 years since she first stepped into an editorial, writing continues to play a huge role in her life and her career. She was a full-time journalist until two years ago. In late 2024, she stepped into the corporate world as a communications and content professional, while continuing with journalism on a freelance basis.

“I think I will be writing for as long as I am alive and able,” said Marianne. “When I was a child, long before computers arrived in my life, I would pray that God would keep my hands safe so that I would always be able to write. It’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do. Books – both novels and poetry – helped me survive my childhood and most of my life; they took me away into another world and never left me. You’re never really alone if you have a book,” she explained.

This book comprises a collection of poems written by Marianne over the course of several years, until 2020. At that point she had around a thousand poems posted on her blog and thought she should submit a manuscript for The Gratiaen. Then it was a matter of sitting down and selecting the poems for the manuscript. It was initially named ‘All of the Oranges’ and was longlisted for The Gratiaen Prize in 2021.

Marianne explained how she has no real writing process. She simply writes what she thinks, mostly inspired by real life experiences and feelings. She noted that she rarely revisits or edits something she writes, choosing to just leave it as it is. Her writing style with the raw truth is what works for her.

I Wear My Watches Stopped consists of poetry across themes such as love, loss, grief, memory, desire, and hope. The collection also explores racism, state terrorism, death and regret. “The most challenging periods happened in relation to most of the poems. And I was always just writing for myself – record-keeping, of sorts, lest I forget,” she said.

“There is no real comfort on my pages. Recognition, yes; some readers will find it in some poems. Hopefully a better understanding of grief and more difficult – and rarely openly discussed – things like abandonment, vulnerability, and anger. And how brief this life is, in the end; how much we love and how much we can lose,” explained the poet.

Speaking about the publishing process, Marianne said: “The whole process of publishing took just one month. From the moment I decided to publish to the point I held the book in my hands.” Marianne recalled that she will always remember and hold precious how much her daughter and closest friends encouraged her.

Marianne hopes her poems speak to the readers in some way and that sharing her experiences reflects something of theirs. “None of us are ever really alone in how we feel. And holding a book in our hands, we can never really be alone,” she said.