Tolerance key for happiness says 12-year-old while launching book

Sharjah: Twelve-year-old Sri Lankan author Sanith Santhasa Piyadigamage discussed his second book ‘Tolerance for Happiness’ at Sharjah International Book Fair this week.

The Dubai-expat, who is a student of Gems Winchester School, held a workshop with school and university students on Tuesday to introduce themes from his latest non-fiction title, which follows on from his first book ‘Thoughts of a 10-year-old’, published last year.

“Tolerance and happiness is necessary for our species,” Sanith told Gulf News, of why he chose this subject for his latest book. “We are the world’s second most social species just below the ant kingdom, and we are very diversified and different so we need to tolerate one another in order to move forward in our journey of evolution.

“This is a good topic because even as a kid I notice things around me that need more attention and I hope my writings can enable us all to think clearer on these subjects. Humankind isn’t perfect and we need to improve,” he added.

Sanith first got into writing when his parents encouraged him to write a letter to Gulf News complaining about how food was being wasted at local hotel buffets. Noticing that this affected him, they encouraged him to put his thoughts on paper, and after his article was published by the newspaper it gave him the confidence to keep writing.

“I’ve now done several talks about subjects in my books to schools and book fairs and hope to continue this to become a motivational speaker and anthropologist.

“I always want to be able to share my thoughts through my books and hopefully spread a message to help society. That is ultimately why I started writing in the first place.”