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Shehan Karunatilaka, who triumphed on Monday evening in London with his novel “The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida”, is the second Sri Lankan writer to win the prestigious Booker Prize, which rewards novels written in English.
Sri Lankan writer Shehan Karunatilaka won the prestigious British Booker Prize on Monday (October 17th) for his novel “The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida”, a biting satire set in the civil war that shook his country.
The jury hailed the “width and competence, audacity, boldness and hilarity” of the author, who thus saw his second novel crowned.
This darkly humorous murder case is set in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, in the post-civil war 1990s. It follows a war photographer, gamer and hidden homosexual, who tries to find out who killed him.
The literary prize was presented in London in the presence of Queen Consort Camilla, in the first in-person ceremony since 2019 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
After Michael Ondaatje
Shehan Karunatilaka, 47, is the second Sri Lankan-born writer to be awarded the Booker Prize, following Michael Ondaatje in 1992.
Last year, the prize was awarded to the South African author Damon Galgut for “The Promise”, a book regarding time spent in a white farming family in post-apartheid South Africa.
The winner wins the reward of 50,000 pounds (regarding 60,000 euros) and the assurance of international fame.
Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood or Hilary Mantel, who died last month at 70, are among the writers who received the prize for novels written in English.
With AFP
