Aanya Wipulasena

Aanya Wipulasena is a journalist based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. She works as a correspondent for the Spanish news agency EFE and freelances for the English-language Sri Lankan newspaper Sunday Observer. Her work has been published in international publications including The New York Times, The Guardian, and Al Jazeera. Human rights, politics, and covering stories related to marginalized communities are her main areas of interest.

She was part of the New York Times team that reported on the Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka in 2019 and is currently covering stories related to the economic crisis in her home country for various publications.

Her early work, including a reportage on a water crisis that escalated to a point at which security forces were actively shooting at villagers in Rathupaswela, Gampaha District in the Western Province of Sri Lanka, won her the Denzil Peiris Young Reporter of the Year Award in 2013.

She studied journalism at the Sri Lanka College of Journalism and was later awarded a scholarship to continue her education at the Manorama School of Communication in Kottayam, India.

Aanya is taking part in the Berlin Scholarship Programme for four months.