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Sri Lanka author wins Booker for ‘afterlife noir’: ‘Gallows humour to cope…’
Booker Prize 2022: Shehan Karunatilaka is the second Sri Lankan author to win the recognition.
This year's Booker Prize has gone to an author from a country where turmoil - both financial and political - has been in the global eye. Even the subject of his book - which won one of the most prestigious international literary awards - was inspired from the conflict his nation faced in the past. Ironically, Shehan Karunatilaka is known for his humour and his second novel - that wins the recognition - is a satire. He is the second Sri Lanka author to have received the award.
Here’s what you may like to know about the 47-year-old latest booker prize winner and his novel.
1. “The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida” - a supernatural satire with a photographer as its protagonist - is Karunatilaka's second novel . It tells the story of "the murderous mayhem of a Sri Lanka beset by civil war". The photographer is struck with an afterlife pursuit of leading his loved ones to a cache of photos that will rock the conflict-hit nation
2. “Life after death in Sri Lanka: an afterlife noir, with nods to Dante and Buddha and yet unpretentious. Fizzes with energy, imagery and ideas against a broad, surreal vision of the Sri Lankan civil wars. Slyly, angrily comic,” the judges said about the book.
3. His latest recognition comes nearly a decade after Karunatilaka's debut novel - Chinaman - had won him the Commonwealth Book Prize, the DSL and Gratiaen Prize. It was said to be one of the best cricket books of all time.
4. With more than two decades behind him as experience, Karunatilaka has had his work published in the Rolling Stone, GQ and National Geographic. He had even worked as an advertising agency copywriter, and played guitar with a band, according to the Booker Prize website.
5. “Sri Lankans specialise in gallows humour. It's our coping mechanism,” he was quoted as saying in a interview published on the website. Born in Colombo, he has lived in New Zealand, Amsterdam and London.
Even as he received the award from Queen Consort Camilla, he could not help but be funny. “The British pound is doing better than Sri Lanka rupee,” he said, triggering audience laughter. On social media, congratulatory messages were posted soon after his win. "Congratulations Mr. Shehan Karunatilaka for winning the prestigious #BookerPrize2022. We are proud of your achievement, and thank you for inspiring the nation," tweeted Sri Lanka Foreign Minister Mohamed Uvais Mohamed Ali Sabry.
