Sri Lankan author Shehan Karunatilaka wins Booker Prize

Colombo, Oct 18: Sri Lankan author Shehan Karunatilaka won the Booker Prize on Monday for his novel, "The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida."

Karunatilaka accepted the award at a ceremony in London, saying he hoped the book would be read in a Sri Lanka that "learns from its stories."

What is the award-winning book about?

Karunatilaka's book is set in the 1990s and is about a gay photographer who wakes up dead during the country's civil war.

Maali Almeida then has seven moons to reach out to loved ones who can find his pictures that document the atrocities of the civil war.

Neil MacGregor, chair of the judges for this year, said the book is a "metaphysical thriller, an afterlife noir that dissolves the boundaries not just of different genres, but of life and death, body and spirit, east and west."

MacGregor added the book was an entirely "philosophical romp" and won because of "the ambition, the scope and the skill, the daring, the audacity and the hilarity of the execution."

Karunatilaka, who won 50,000 pounds ($57,000) prize along with the award, said he hopes that his book would be read in a Sri Lanka where it finds itslelf in the "fantasy section of the bookshop and will... not be mistaken for realism or political satire."

The author accepted the prize from Camilla, the Queen Consort.

Source: DW