Shehan Karunatilaka scoops Booker Prize for genre-busting second novel

The Sri Lankan writer Shehan Karunatilaka has gained the 2022 Booker Prize for his genre-defying second novel, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida.

Set in 1990 amid the violence and chaos of the Sri Lankan civil warfare, the novel follows Maali Almeida — a warfare photographer, gambler, homosexual man and self-described “slut” — as he’s given seven nights to analyze his personal loss of life. The novel takes the type of a homicide thriller however is characterised by its darkish humour, imaginative strategy to storytelling and dizzying solid of characters.

“What the judges notably admired and loved in The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida was the ambition of its scope, and the hilarious audacity of its narrative methods,” stated Neil MacGregor, the artwork historian and chair of this yr’s judges.

“It is a metaphysical thriller, an afterlife noir that dissolves the boundaries not simply of various genres, however of life and loss of life, physique and spirit, east and west. It’s a wholly severe philosophical romp that takes the reader to ‘the world’s darkish coronary heart’ — the murderous horrors of civil warfare Sri Lanka,” he added.

In its evaluation, the Monetary Occasions described The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida as “a robust evocation of Sri Lanka’s brutal previous”.

“The afterlife is a nightmarish world of ghouls and demons however so is Down There, the nation he left behind, beset by corrupt leaders, loss of life squads, suicide bombers and grasping arms sellers,” it added.

Karunatilaka, who was born in Galle in 1975 and grew up within the capital Colombo, turns into the second Sri Lanka-born writer to win the award after Michael Ondaatje, who gained in 1992 with The English Affected person.

His debut novel Chinaman, which was revealed in 2011 and centred on a Sri Lankan cricketing virtuoso, gained the Commonwealth Prize.

The jury’s choice to offer Karunatilaka the £50,000 Booker Prize, the UK’s premier fiction award for works written in English, additionally represents a win for unbiased publishing. The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida is revealed by Form of Books, a small London-based writer of fiction and non-fiction.

This yr’s Booker Prize ceremony was the primary held totally in individual because the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. It came about at The Roundhouse, a performing arts venue in north London, the place Camilla, the Queen Consort, introduced the trophy.