- Sri Lankan writer Shehan Karunatilaka has been named the winner of the prestigious Booker Prize for Fiction for his second book ‘The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida’, about a war photographer murdered in the country’s civil war.
- The annual award, which was given 17 October, 2022 at London’s Roundhouse, is for a work of fiction written in English and published in the UK and Ireland.
- Shehan Karunatilaka received a trophy from Queen Consort Camilla at the English language literary award’s first in-person ceremony since 2019. He also gets a £50,000 ($56,810) prize.
- Set in 1990 Sri Lanka during the country’s civil war, Mr. Karunatilaka’s story follows gay war photographer and gambler Maali Almeida, who wakes up dead.
- Time is of essence for Maali, who has “seven moons” to reach out to loved ones and guide them to hidden photos he has taken depicting the brutality of his country’s conflict.
- “My hope for ‘Seven Moons’ is that in the not too distant future… it is read in a Sri Lanka that has understood that these ideas of corruption, race baiting and cronyism have not worked and will never work,” Mr. Karunatilaka said in his acceptance speech.
Sri Lankan writer Shehan Karunatilaka wins Booker Prize 2022
