Heritance Hotels and Resorts Partners with Galle Literary Festival as Exclusive Opening Night Sponsor
Rooted in a legacy of cultural preservation and authentic experiences, Heritance Hotels and Resorts shares a natural synergy with the ethos of GLF, which celebrates creativity, intellectual discovery, and Sri Lanka's rich artistic heritage. This collaboration highlights Heritance's unwavering commitment to fostering creativity and promoting cultural sustainability while delivering unparalleled hospitality.
The festival's Opening Night will set the tone for the festival, offering guests an immersive experience that bridges tradition and innovation - hallmarks of the Heritance brand. The event will bring together an inspiring guest list, including renowned authors, literary figures, and thought leaders, offering guests an evening enriched with artistry, conversation, and a vibrant celebration of Sri Lankan culture with some of the most influential voices in the world of literature. The evening will also feature a thoughtfully curated culinary experience by Heritance Ahungalla, showcasing fusion cuisine inspired by traditional Sri Lankan roots, blending flavors and heritage in every bite.
'For Heritance Hotels and Resorts, this collaboration is more than just sponsorship; it's a continuation of a shared journey toward cultural sustainability,' remarked Stasshani Jayawardena, Joint Deputy Chairperson and Joint Managing Director of Aitken Spence Hotel Holdings. 'The Galle Literary Festival provides a platform for diverse voices, intellectual exploration, and the celebration of both contemporary and classical art forms, values that are integral to the Heritance Hotels and Resorts brand. Together with GLF, Heritance Hotels and Resorts continues to showcase its belief in the transformative power of literature to connect communities, preserve heritage, and inspire future generations.'
Heritance Hotels and Resorts welcomes festival attendees to an evening of inspiration and dialogue - where stories come alive, creativity flourishes, and connections are forged in the heart of Galle. This partnership further solidifies Heritance's role as a proud champion of Sri Lanka's artistic and cultural legacy.
About Aitken Spence Hotels
Aitken Spence Hotels oversees a diverse collection of 18 hotels and resorts across Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Oman, and India, through its varied collection of brands - Heritance Hotels and Resorts, Adaaran Resorts, and Turyaa. Heritance Hotels & Resorts, the flagship brand of Aitken Spence Hotels, is known for its portfolio of Bawa-designed hotels in Sri Lanka, adding a touch of architectural distinction to its rich offerings.
Shivanka Nawarathne
Aitken Spence Hotel Managements (Pvt) Ltd.
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Atlantic
2 days ago
- Atlantic
The One Book Everyone Should Read
What should I read next? If only making that decision were simple: Recommendations abound online and off, but when you're casting about for a new book, especially if you're coming off the heels of something you adored, the paradox of choice can feel intense. You might turn to loved ones to ask which book would be just right for you. Avid readers frequently face a parallel dilemma; they find themselves bombarded by friends and family members who expect a perfectly tailored recommendation. Staffers at The Atlantic get these inquiries a lot—often enough to recognize that for many of us, a pattern emerges. We end up suggesting the same book, again and again, no matter who's asking. Yet each recommender cites a different set of criteria for the work that rises to the top of their list. Some of us pick a read that feels so timeless, and so widely appealing, that it truly does have something for everyone. Others among us evangelize about something so singular that it must be experienced. The 12 books below have nothing in common except for the fact that their advocates have shared them time after time, and believe in their power to delight or captivate readers who have a variety of tastes and proclivities. One of them will, we hope, be the title you pick up next. The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, by Shehan Karunatilaka Some people turn to books for history, others for lessons on human nature. They might hope to better understand longing, despair, joy, or love—or simply chase the high of genre fiction (ghost stories, political thrillers, tales of redemption). To all of these readers, I invariably advocate for Karunatilaka's journey into underworlds: both a supernatural realm beyond death and the demimonde of violence and corruption that fueled the Sri Lankan civil war. Seven Moons was the dark-horse winner of the 2022 Booker Prize, beating books by Percival Everett and Elizabeth Strout and rightly claiming its place in the magical-realism canon. 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Set in New York City's late-19th-century financial world, the book is composed of four fictional texts, each focused on the same people but written from a different vantage point. The question is: Which narrator does the reader believe? Trust 's storytelling is impeccable, full of twists and surprises. The book is also a remarkable criticism of unbridled capitalism—but the story does not exist in service of a doctrine. It remains unlike anything else I've read. — Clint Smith An American Sunrise, by Joy Harjo Harjo's poetry collection begins by recounting a horrific event: In 1830, the United States government forced some 100,000 Indigenous people to walk hundreds of miles, at gunpoint, from the southeastern U.S. to lands west of the Mississippi River. Among those on this Trail of Tears were Harjo's Muscogee ancestors, who left Georgia and Alabama for Oklahoma, and whose memory the writer resurrects through poems that collapse the distance between generations, making history feel present-tense. The book deftly expresses both grief for all of the violence perpetrated on American soil and a profound love for all of the beings that inhabit this continent. Ancestors and descendants dance at the perimeter of Harjo's poems, and her definition of relative is wide enough to hold every living thing—panthers, raccoons, tobacco plants. Anyone could spend an afternoon with this book and come away with a refreshed, more capacious view of this country. 'These lands aren't our lands,' Harjo notes. 'These lands aren't your lands. We are this land.' — Valerie Trapp An American Sunrise - Poems By Joy Harjo Eating Stone: Imagination and the Loss of the Wild, by Ellen Meloy When Meloy, a desert naturalist, felt estranged from nature, she sought to cure it by stalking a band of bighorn sheep for a year in Utah's Canyonlands wilderness. She begins in winter and feels cold and clumsy. She envies the bighorns' exquisite balance as she watches them spring quickly up cliff faces. She feels 'the power and purity of first wonder.' Meloy's writing is scientifically learned—beautifully so—but this book does not pretend to be a detached study. When she hikes alongside these animals at dawn, she aches to belong. She fantasizes about being a feral child they raised. At first, the band is indifferent to her project. But animal by animal, they begin to let her into their world. To follow her there is to experience one of the sublime pleasures of contemporary American nature writing. Meloy gives an account of their culture, their affections for one another, even their conflicts. All these years after my first read, I can still hear the crack of the rams' colliding horns echoing off the red rock. — Ross Andersen Will and Testament, by Vigdis Hjorth When I picked up this novel some years ago, I'd never heard of Hjorth, and I was drawn to the book simply because of the quiet mood evoked by the cover of the English-language edition—a serene picture of a lonely cabin in the woods at twilight. What I found inside was a story that reads at once as a juicy diary and as a chillingly astute psychological portrait of a dysfunctional family. The story is narrated by Bergljot, a Norwegian theater critic who is estranged from much of her family because they refused to acknowledge the abuse that her father had inflicted on her. A dispute over inheritance brings the whole distant family back into painful contact. The novel was deeply controversial in Norway after Hjorth's family claimed that its contents were too close to reality. Later, Hjorth's sister published her own novelization of their family strife. But the scandal shouldn't detract from the novel itself, which is utterly specific yet universal: The author captures the pettiness of the family's drama and the damage they do to one another with equal fidelity. — Maya Chung Alanna: The First Adventure, by Tamora Pierce The kingdom of Tortall has many of the classic features of a fantasy world: strapping lords, tender ladies, charming rogues, mysterious magical forces that can be used for good or for evil. But what makes Pierce's Song of the Lioness series so timeless and reliable is its heroine, Alanna, who poses as a boy in order to train as a knight. The First Adventure, which introduced her to readers in 1983, serves as an excellent gateway to the fantasy genre. 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I gasped a few times as Wynn-Williams recounted being commanded to sleep in bed next to Sheryl Sandberg, and being harassed by a higher-up while she was recovering from a traumatic childbirth that nearly killed her. But the real shock comes from seeing how Facebook, a site most people associate with college friends and benign memes, helped to amplify and exacerbate hate speech. This is exactly why I keep pressing it on people. The corporation, now Meta, has described some of the book's allegations as 'false'; regardless, Careless People makes a powerful case for why no single company or boss should have this kind of reckless, untrammeled power. — Sophie Gilbert A Floating Chinaman: Fantasy and Failure Across the Pacific, by Hua Hsu The first thing I like to tell people about Hsu's debut book is that he took its title from a novel that had been lost, or maybe never even existed. The second thing is that it is about America, not China. A Floating Chinaman 's subject, broadly, is Asian American literature between the First and Second World Wars, but its main character is the eccentric novelist and immigrant H. T. Tsiang. Tsiang wrote prolifically at the same time as Pearl S. Buck, the white writer who won a Pulitzer for The Good Earth, her novel about Chinese farmers. Tsiang had high ambitions to combat Buck's rosy portrait of his birth country, but his manuscripts were dismissed again and again, partly for their political radicalism, their criticism of the U.S. and China, and their sheer weirdness. Tsiang had sketched a novel about a Chinese laborer who travels widely—but as far as Hsu can tell, Tsiang's book never materialized. Hsu honors the writer's obsession and perseverance while asking a more pointed question: Were Americans unready to accept an immigrant writer who called out weaknesses in their own country? — Shan Wang The Index of Self-Destructive Acts, by Christopher Beha Beha's big-swing novel, set in the late 2000s, follows Sam, a young data-crunching blogger from the Midwest who gets hired to work at a legacy New York magazine. He arrives in the city certain that when one has the right information, the world is 'a knowable place'—but he is soon forced to reconsider his rational worldview. Sam encounters an apocalyptic preacher, falls for the daughter of a profile subject (though he's married), and cranks out a near-constant stream of articles while struggling with unexpected doubts. The novel takes on heady themes, but it never feels dull or brainy, and all the people I've shared it with over the years love it too. My New Yorker father told me how well it portrayed the city after the 2008 financial crisis; my friends in journalism affirm its perceptiveness about the industry's 'content farm' days; my church friends appreciate how it takes religious belief seriously. I push it upon pretty much everyone I know. — Eleanor Barkhorn Black Swans, by Eve Babitz Reading Babitz's early work is like being whisked from one glamorous party to another. A fixture of the 1970s Hollywood scene, Babitz transcribed dozens of her own libertine experiences with diaristic recall in autofictional works such as Eve's Hollywood. But by the time she released this 1993 short-story collection, the parties had fizzled out and the scene was over. Retreating from the zeitgeist didn't rob her of inspiration, though. As an older writer, Babitz possessed a new clarity about the meaning of all those youthful nights, and the stories in Black Swans —about former bohemians inching toward the staid life, and romantics bumping up against the limits of love—are told with tenderness that is unusual in her other work. Babitz is often contrasted with her frenemy Joan Didion —Babitz was cast in the popular imagination as the fun, ditzy sexpot, as opposed to Didion's cool, cold-blooded stenographer—but the maturity and thoughtfulness of these stories dispel any lazy stereotypes. Her early work is what made her reputation, but this later collection, in which she's looking back and making sense of it all, is simply better—a trajectory I wish for all writers. — Jeremy Gordon


New York Post
3 days ago
- New York Post
A rare Gilded Age home in NYC will list for $13.9M
A wonderfully preserved Gilded Age mansion is poised to hit the market for $13.9 million as the glamorous homes from that period of time are back in the spotlight. The grand 19th-century limestone residence is at 57 E. 74th St., between Park and Madison avenues. It's one of seven on the historic block designed by noted architects Buchman and Deisler. The listing comes as the buzzy third season of HBO's 'The Gilded Age' is underway, which has created renewed interest in the lavish dwellings where the wealthy resided during that period. It also fortuitously enters the market as a number of city homes from the Gilded Age have recently listed or sold, such as the Stanford White-designed 973 Fifth Ave., which traded hands for $46 million. Advertisement However, despite the sum of these kinds of properties that have made recent waves on the residential market, they're still a rare breed of home to own. 9 The dramatic ceilings are a statement when entertaining. Brown Harris Stevens 9 A fireplace warms the formal dining room in colder months. Brown Harris Stevens 9 The residence is massive, and has plenty of room for entertaining guests. Brown Harris Stevens Advertisement 9 As it currently stands, the home is elegantly decorated. Brown Harris Stevens Built in 1898, this five-story home features an ornate iron grille door. It was once owned by the Broadway producer and television pioneer Joseph Cates. The present seller has owned it since 1990, when he bought it for $3.4 million from Cates. At a sprawling 8,200 square feet, the seven-bedroom, 6.5-bath property comes with nine fireplaces, two terraces and two wine cellars. The residence opens to an entry level with a grand foyer featuring oak wainscoting, plastered ceilings and inlaid wood floors. Advertisement 9 The sunny kitchen. Brown Harris Stevens 9 Original stairs connect the levels. Brown Harris Stevens 9 This large bedroom boasts a sitting area and fireplace. Brown Harris Stevens Advertisement 9 There's space for a kids' room. Brown Harris Stevens 9 A home office is bathed in a modern color. Brown Harris Stevens The parlor level has 12-foot ceilings, detailed moldings and a central gallery for large-scale entertaining. There are also formal living and dining rooms with fireplaces, and a large eat-in chef's kitchen and a galley prep space. For its part, the basement level includes a laundry area and a home gym. The listing broker is Joyce Sheena, of Brown Harris Stevens.


Eater
3 days ago
- Eater
The Best Dishes Eater Editors Ate This Week: July 21
The editors at Eater LA dine out several times a week, if not per day, which means we're always encountering standout dishes that deserve time in the limelight. Here's the very best of everything the team has eaten this week. Lamprais from Baja Subs in Northridge Lamprais from Baja Subs in Northridge. Wonho Frank Lee I finally went to Sri Lankan restaurant Baja Subs after Eater LA contributor Fiona Chandra helped put a spotlight on it back in 2020, after which it's received accolades from numerous other publications. On a sleepy afternoon last week, I stopped in for the lamprais (also spelled lumprais or lump rice), a baked packet of short-grain rice, sambal, meat curry, eggplant curry, a boiled egg, and frikadeller, a fried ball of minced meat. The entire package is fragrant with banana leaves, balanced with spice (though there's certainly a good amount of heat throughout the dish). The name, taken from the Dutch word lomprijst, and that hefty meatball, are vestiges of colonization, but really the dish doesn't need that moniker or the meatball. Lamprais is a great first-time dish when eating solo, but on weekends, a wider array of curries and other flavors go on full display in a reasonably priced buffet. Which means I'll have to make the trek to the deep San Fernando Valley on a Friday or Saturday, certainly not an onerous task knowing that this calvacade of deep, spicy, comforting flavors awaits. 8801 Reseda Boulevard, Northridge, CA, 91324. — Matthew Kang, lead editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest Goldong naengmyeon from Seogwan by Yellow Cow BBQ in Koreatown Goldong naengmyeon at Seogwan by Yellow Cow BBQ in Koreatown. Matthew Kang Every month, a new Korean barbecue spot opens in Koreatown, but it's not often that a specialist in naengmyeon arrives here, especially a heralded one from Seoul. Seogwan Myeokok, a well-regarded Pyongyang naengmyeon shop in Seoul, quietly expanded to Southern California with a partnership with Monica Kim, the chef and proprietor of Yellow Cow Barbecue in Gardena. Together, they took over the former Magal BBQ on Eighth Street with a sleek but smoke-filled dining room featuring Seogwan's elegant, fully organic U.S. buckwheat noodles served in the ethereal and subtle Pyongyang broth. Though my ancestors hail from the now North Korean capitol, I'm not sure I'll ever truly understand the subtlety of its famous cold noodle soup. I did, however, love the goldong naengmyeon, a drier set of tossed buckwheat noodles wrapped in a tight bun, topped with thin beef slices and surrounded by earthy banchan like seasoned mushrooms, sliced mu radish, and cucumbers. Texture and nuttiness come from toasted perilla leaves and ground sesame seeds. Mix it all together and enjoy for a satisfying precursor to the top-notch tabletop barbecue, or just have it as a light lunch. 3460 W. Eighth Street, Los Angeles, CA 90005. — Matthew Kang, lead editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest Tuna dan dan noodles from Jon Yao served at Callie in San Diego Tuna dan dan noodles from Jon Yao served at Callie in San Diego. Matthew Kang Since its opening nearly a decade ago, Kato has always made a strong impression with familiar, simple dishes that lean on Taiwanese cuisine. Chef Jon Yao has garnered so much praise in the past few years, including at the top of the Los Angeles Times 101 Best Restaurants, a Michelin star, and most recently as the Best Chef: California by the James Beard Award Foundation. Yet, Yao continues to push boundaries, and one wonders what he could accomplish with a more casual restaurant that served something like this tuna dan dan noodles. Using meaty tuna from a six-foot-long line-caught fish just off of San Diego and serving them at a collab dinner with Callie chef Travis Skiward at his Petco Park-adjacent restaurant, these noodles were a revelation. Dense umami flavors from doubanjiang and preserved bean brought the trademark dan dan flavor without making it too heavy on the nuttiness (which came from Taiwanese sesame paste). Elegant pasta strands lapped up the chunky sauce, with the tuna almost falling into the background to the spices, rather than asserting itself. Tangled shreds of allium and cilantro brought freshness and crunch. It's a brilliant dish that I would gladly pay $30 for at Kato's bar (here's to hoping...) or a daytime menu if that ever materializes. 1195 Island Avenue, San Diego, CA 92101. — Matthew Kang, lead editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest Caprese melt from Milestone Tavern in San Luis Obispo Caprese melt from Milestone Tavern in San Luis Obispo. Rebecca Roland Road trip eating is a unique challenge in itself. You want a meal that's filling enough to last for a few hours, but not so filling that driving becomes unpleasant. And a restaurant nice enough to take a break for a few minutes, without it turning into a two-hour affair and derailing any sense of urgency. On a recent trip back home from the Bay, I found myself searching for a dinner break around San Luis Obispo and stopped at Milestone Tavern, just down the street from Cal Poly. The expansive restaurant feels very brewpub-y, with plenty of beer taps and a menu of burgers, sandwiches, street tacos, and artichoke dip. I ordered a caprese melt, which was essentially a caprese sandwich on toasted sourdough. While it wasn't anything groundbreaking, the tomato was ripe, and the cheese sliced just thick enough. The balsamic was a touch sweet for my taste, but the drizzle wasn't too heavy, so I had no real complaints. A side of thick-cut fries and crispy Brussels sprouts made it an easy dinner that I'm sure I'll return to next time I'm passing through town. 972 Foothill Boulevard, San Luis Obispo, CA 93405. — Rebecca Roland, editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest So Mush Love from Wallflour Pizza in Eagle Rock So Mush Love from Wallflour Pizza in Eagle Rock. Mona Holmes Good pizza resides in every corner of Los Angeles. That's not hyperbole; that's simply the application of tested technique surrounding dough, toppings, and different styles in a region known for being loyal to trying something new and delicious. One of the newest entrants to the scene is Wallflour Pizza, the former pop-up turned permanent restaurant by Carolina Pedroza-Conaway and Brandon Conaway that has proven to be one of 2025's standouts with a crust that rivals any competitor in the Southland. The duo took over the former spacious Azlan space on Colorado, near Eagle Rock Boulevard, and transformed it into a colorful and cozy room where diners can enjoy expertly leavened sourdough pizza. Although this is truly some of my favorite crust, the former Quarantine Pizza Co. made a name for itself by experimenting with toppings. Definitely share the al pastor pie, but the mushroom-topped So Mush Love is where it's at for me. The owners procured the primary ingredient from local vendor Long Beach Mushrooms, which is spread across the pie alongside Grana Padano cheese, roasted garlic cream, and fresh arugula on top. As always, this is the type of crust that's best enjoyed fresh out of the oven. Wallflour is not on any third-party delivery apps, but takeout is available by placing an order for pickup online. 2128 Colorado Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA, 90041. — Mona Holmes, editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest Eater LA All your essential food and restaurant intel delivered to you Email (required) Sign Up By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.