Sri Lankans yesterday (18) woke up to the exciting news that Shehan Karunatilaka had won the Booker Prize 2022 for his novel The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, published in the Indian subcontinent as Chats with the Dead and described by Chair of Judges Neil MacGregor as “an afterlife noir that dissolves the boundaries not just of different genres, but of life and death, body and spirit, east and west”.
The author was awarded this prestigious honour on 17 October, presented by Britain’s Queen Camilla, with a keynote speech by singer-songwriter Dua Lipa during a ceremony hosted by comedian Sophie Duker.
Announcing the winner, Neil MacGregor touched on the purpose of the Booker Prize, saying it exists to acknowledge the power of the book to change lives and even possibly change the world.
“But the Booker Prize is also about the quiet pleasure of reading alone and the delight of then discussing what you’ve read with a group of friends. And as judges of this year’s Booker Prize, we have enjoyed both and in unprecedented measure.”
“We believe, and you will now have had a chance to see, that every one of our shortlisted books would be a worthy winner. In different ways, each of them is asking the same questions: what is the ultimate value of one individual life?” MacGregor said, adding:
“The book that we have chosen at once takes readers on a journey so horrific and humorous, beyond life and beyond death to the world’s dark heart. And there, astonishingly and encouragingly, we find tenderness, laughter, loyalty and love.”
The winning novel
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida explores life after death in a noir investigation set amid the murderous mayhem of a Sri Lanka beset by civil war. In Colombo, 1990, war photographer Maali Almeida is dead, and has no idea who has killed him. He has seven moons to try and contact the man and woman he loves most and lead them to a hidden cache of photos that will rock Sri Lanka.
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida is Karunatilaka’s much-anticipated second novel; with his debut, Chinaman (2011), winning the Commonwealth Prize, the DSL, and the Gratiaen Prize. It was also selected for the BBC and The Reading Agency’s Big Jubilee Read last year.
The 2022 Booker Prize winner was published by the independent press Sort of Books, and Karunatilaka thanked the publishers for taking it on when others found it too weird, difficult and strange.
Acceptance speech
He started his acceptance speech by thanking the Booker Prize Foundation, the Booker Prize and the judges for an inspiring, rich and brilliant longlist and a spectacular shortlist. “It’s been a hell of a ride and I’ve been expecting to get off at each stop. No such luck; I mean, we are at the final stop,” he said, adding that it was an honour and privilege to be shortlisted alongside NoViolet Bulawayo (Glory), Percival Everett (The Trees), Alan Garner (Treacle Walker), Claire Keegan (Small Things Like These), and Elizabeth Strout (Oh William!).
The author went on to say that he was planning to, in Percival Everett style, list the names of all journalists, activists, politicians, civilians, and innocents murdered by the State or those opposing it in his lifetime in Sri Lanka.
“But if I had done that, we’d be here all night. So I was going to read the names from obituaries from 1989, when the book was set. Activists like Richard de Zoysa, Dr. Rajani Thiranagama, and Daya Pathirana, who featured in this book. But if I had done that, we would have all missed our trains…”
Karunatilaka went on to add: “My hope for Seven Moons is this: That in the not too distant future, 10 years or however long as it takes, it is read in a Sri Lanka that has understood that these ideas of corruption, race-baiting, and cronyism have not worked and will never work.”
“I hope it’s read in a Sri Lanka that learns from its stories and that Seven Moons will be in a fantasy section of a bookshop, next to the dragons and unicorns, and not be mistaken for realism or political satire.”
Towards the end of his acceptance speech, the author switched to Sinhala, saying: “I wrote this book for you. At a time when the country is defeated, this is a win. We even lost to Namibia recently, but that’s okay. Today, the people of Sri Lanka are suffering and I have no weapons to change this, but we will now enjoy this win, as well as go on to win the International T20 World Cup.”
Concluding the speech in Tamil, he said: “Sri Lankans, let’s tell our stories and keep telling them.”