an early practitioner of the genre of poetry called nisandas, which ignored the restrictions placed on poetry by the traditional prosodic patterns. It drew inspiration from the work of Eliot, Pound, Whitman and other western poets and was part of a movement called Peradeniya School. Wickramasinghe's work was Teri Gi (1952). The movement dissolved in the 1960s prompted by Wickramasinghe's contention that other writers of the Peradeniya School were not sensitive to cultural traditions and the Buddhist background of Sinhalese society. He accused Ediriweera Sarachchandra, Gunadasa Amarasekara and others of imitating "decadent" western and post-war Japanese literature and of supporting a nihilistic look on life with cynical disregard for national tradition. Later years Wickramasinghe visited Cuba on the invitation of the Cuban Government in 1968. In 1973, Wickramasinghe wrote a new biography of Buddha titled Bava Taranaya. In it the great teacher's change from royal heir in-waiting to philosopher-mendicant is portrayed as being a result of his sympathy to the poor and the downtrodden of society. Wickramasinghe died on 23 July 1976 and his home is now a folk museum. Personal life Wickramasinghe married Kataluwe Balage Prema de Silva on 30 November 1925. They move to Mount-Lavinia, where their first child Susantha Manuwarna is born and dies three months later. They would have six more children, three sons and three daughters. Their eldest son Sarath Kusum Wickramasinghe, served as Sri Lankan High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 1995 to 1999. Wickramasinghe built himself a house Samudrasanna Road, Mount-Lavinia in 1939. In 1941, his family home in Koggala was taken over by the British military when RAF Koggala was established during world war 2. In 1950, he sold his house in Mount-Lavinia and moved to Thimbirigasyaya to allow his children to attend university. In 1956, he moved to Bandarawela, where he took up residence. Honors and awards Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) - 1953 Appointed Member of the Radio Broadcasting Commission – 1953 Award for the best news paper article for the year "The fall of the Brahmin Class" – 1956 The novel "Viragaya" wins the Don Pedric Award for the best novel of the year – 1957 Awarded a Honorary PhD by the Vidyodaya University – 1960 Awarded a DLitt by the University of Ceylon – 1963 UNESCO Award for his book "The Rise of the Soviet Land" – 1964 Awarded a DLitt by Vidyalankara