Kala Keerthi Sybil Wettasinghe (Sinhala: සිබිල් වෙත්තසිංහ) (31 October 1927 – 1 July 2020) was a children's book writer and an illustrator in Sri Lanka.
In 1952, Wettasinghe moved to the much-coveted Lakehouse publications where she became the main illustrator of the Janatha newspaper and became the first Sri Lankan woman to work full-time as a journalist.
Her entry into Lake House gave access to an entire network of newspapers and she wrote and illustrated for the Sunday Observer, Silumina, Daily News and Sarasaviya.
Given her own style of magical illustrations and simple but intriguing plotting of stories, Sybil had been a unique treasure Sri Lanka has gifted to the children of the world.
In an interview with Minoli Rathnayaka on Etv for ‘Power Women’ program, Sybil thankfully mentions her father's influence in her early life which shaped her up for a career as an illustrator and a children's book author.
Martin Wicramasingha, the legendary Sri Lankan author, had recognized Sybils's potential in her earliest works and had predicted a bright future ahead.
When she started working for Lakehouse Publications, she meets her future husband Mr. Don Dharmapala Wettasinghe, the chief sub-editor of the newspaper at the time.
Suuttara Puncha, the protagonist of a series of stories she created, represents those qualities Sybil believed that every child essentially possessed.
For example, "Rathu Car Podda", a story about a red little toy-car who was scared to sleep outside the house, and, was comforted by ‘Uncle Mango Tree’.
Inspired by the success of Kuda Hora, Wettasinghe applied herself to writing as well as illustrating and proceeded to produce over 200 children's books over the course of her career.
[8] Many of her works have been translated into languages such as Japanese, Chinese, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, English, Korean, Dutch and Tamil.
[citation needed] During her career, Wettasinghe has won much international acclaim and her children's stories secured awards both in Europe and Asia.
Wettasinghe has held exhibitions of her work in Japan and Czechoslovakia and in 2003, she was invited to Norway for a book festival for well-known authors.