Sri Lanka Shehan Karunatilaka is the winner of the British Booker Prize for her satirical novel The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida. The prestigious literary prize was presented by the queen consort Camilla in a London theater.
It was the first time since the crown pandemic that the awards ceremony was once again transformed into a major event. The prize is intended for authors of a book in English. The winner will receive £ 50,000 (nearly € 58,000).
Karunatilaka’s satirical novel is about a photographer who has awakened from the dead and in seven days must find photos through his loved ones showing the atrocities of a war in Sri Lanka.
De jury praise Karunatilaka for wrapping Sri Lankan history in “a thriller and thriller teeming with the boldest minds” with his winning novel. Jurors called the book “enchanting, emotionless, sometimes tender and angry, and always relentlessly funny.”
Also on the shortlist were screenwriters NoViolet Bulawayo, Percival Everett, Claire Keegan, Elizabeth Strout and Alan Garner.
