London: Shehan Karunatilaka, a writer from Sri Lanka, took home the 2022 Booker Prize for his second book, “The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida.” One of the most coveted literary honours in the world is the Booker Prize. After Michael Ondaatje, who won for “The English Patient” in 1992, Karunatilaka, 47, is the second Sri Lankan to receive the renowned 50,000-pound literary prize at a ceremony in London.
In the novel “The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida,” the titular photographer wakes up dead in what appears to be a celestial immigration office in 1990. Maali, who has no idea who killed him, has seven moons to get in touch with the individuals he cares about the most and direct them to a secret collection of images documenting atrocities committed during Sri Lanka’s civil conflict.
The ambitiousness of its scale and the comic daring of its storytelling approaches in “The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida” were qualities that the judges particularly loved and enjoyed, according to Neil MacGregor, chair of the 2022 Booker Prize judges.