PREM’S RISE TO FAME
Fast Ads Publishing Managing Director Prem Dissanayake who has climbed the ladder through sheer commitment and will power, has been an ardent arts lover from his early childhood. He has designed film posters and titles for several popular Sinhala movies.
“I studied at Thurstan College, Colombo in the science stream. But I was a passionate art lover from my childhood. Even the teachers knew my talents in drawing and other artist work. Drawing had probably come as an inborn talent, because I did not study the subject. I was also interested in literature and my dream was to become a journalist some day. While at school I wrote poems and sent cartoons to newspapers and most of them got published. My first creation was published in the Janasathiya. It was a poem against the Vietnam War. Then I wrote to the Eththa newspaper, mostly on politics. The paper had veterans like B. A. Siriwardana, Sirilal Kodikara and others.
Then I was absorbed to the Eththa editorial as a regular freelance writer. Two days after I finished school education I joined the Eththa staff. My monthly salary of Rs. 90. But I had this knack of not sticking to one place for more than six months. Then I joined the Times of Ceylon where George Leslie Ranasinghe wanted me to work on the Deepashika, Vanitha Viththi and Lanakdeepa editorials. G. S. Fernando and Susil Premaratne were also there at that time. After six months, I joined Lake House Tharunee, Navayugaya and Mihira editorials contributing as writer and artist. After six months there, I joined the Dawasa Group working for Sriya Rathnakara’s Sri magazine, Dawasa and Wisithura. Then in 1970, I got a teaching appointment in a government school in Ratnapura as a Science teacher. I went there with a lot of enthusiasm, but I returned back to Colombo after teaching the first three periods. That was the end of my one-day teaching career. That was the way I conducted myself then. I always took instant decisions and never consulted anyone. (RU)