Roma Tearne was 10 when her family fled Sri Lanka to settle in the UK. She went on to become an artist and writer, and her first novel, Mosquito, was shortlisted for the Costa award. Her third novel, Brixton Beach, revisits the "secret civil war" that has riven the island of her birth.
She talks about the trauma of being born into a "mixed" family, with a Tamil mother and a Singhalese father, and explains why she feels compelled to write about it. Weeks after the Singhalese army declared the defeat of the Tamil Tigers, she also explains why she believes it is vital Sri Lanka sets up a truth and reconciliation commission.
