Accepting the prestigious Booker prize yesterday, Sri Lankan author Shehan Karnathilaka said he wrote it for the Sri Lankan people. Karunathilaka delivered a trilingual acceptance speech after being awarded the prize. He said while he had hoped to list out the names of journalists or activists killed in Sri Lanka by government mercenaries or others, it would have taken all night since it is an inexhaustive list.
“My hope for Seven Moons is this. That in the not too distant from future, that it is read in a Sri Lanka that has understood that these ideas of corruption and race-baiting and cronyism have not worked and will never work. I hope it is read in a Sri Lanka where it learns from its stories and that Seven Moons will be in the fantasy section in the bookshop and will not be mistaken by readers for political satire.” he said.
“I want to say this to the people of Sri Lanka. I wrote this book for you. This is a win at a time the country has been defeated. We have lost but it is ok. The people of Sri Lanka are suffering today. I do not have the necessary weapons to end that suffering but let us accept this win.” he added.
Writer Shehan Karunatilaka won the prestigious Booker Prize for his novel ‘The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida’ at a glitzy ceremony held in London yesterday. The winning book is a satirical supernatural story set during Sri Lanka’s brutal civil war.
Karunatilaka was awarded the 50,000 British pound prize by Camila, the Queen Consort. He is the second Sri Lankan author to win the Booker. Previously the writer also won the Commonwealth Book Prize, the DSL and Gratiaen Prize for his debut novel, Chinaman.
Adjudging the novel as the winner, Neil MacGregor, Chair of the 2022 judges panel said that any one of the six shortlisted books would have been a worthy winner. “What the judges particularly admired and enjoyed in The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida was the ambition of its scope, and the hilarious audacity of its narrative techniques” he noted. He said the judge's decision had been unanimous.
