Shehan Karunatilaka’s ‘The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida’ wins 2022 Booker Prize
A novel by the writer she was mentored by is a finalist in the world’s most prestigious literary award.
Shehan Karunatillake. Art direction by Ravi Prakash
The 2019 Nobel Prize in Literature in Literature has been given to French writer Michel Houellebecq for “The Possibility of an Island.”
The Swedish Academy will announce the winner of this year’s Nobel Literature Prize in a closed session at Stockholm City Hall on Dec. 11. The book’s publisher is the Swedish publishing house Bonniers.
Karunatillake’s novel “Maali,” published by the Sri Lankan publisher Ananda Publishers, is a finalist for the Booker Prize in the UK, where it was also a finalist in the International Dublin Literary Award.
The book is based on a Sri Lankan legend of the war of resistance against the British colonial government when it gained independence in 1948.
“This award is a clear recognition of the efforts and dedication of the author and illustrator, and also her support and encouragement from the Sri Lankan book industry,” said Keshava Gnanamoorthy, director of public relations at The Book Trust, in a statement.
Shehan Karunatillake with Sri Lankan president H.E. Dr. Maithripala Sirisena after his victory in 2015 presidential election
The first woman to win an international literary award was Zora Neale Hurston in 1948 for her novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God.” She is also the first Sri Lankan woman to win a literary award, after she won the 1989 Booker Prize and the 1991 Commonwealth Literature Prize.
“Maali” was first published in 2014 in Sinhala by the Ceylon University Press. It was translated and published in Tamil by the Newbridge Publications. The novel has been translated into 10 languages.