Shehan Karunatilaka’s ‘The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida’ wins Booker Prize 2022

The Booker Prize, one of the world's most prestigious literary awards, was awarded to Sri Lankan author Shehan Karunatilaka for his fiction 'The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida' yesterday, 18 October.

The judges acclaimed the "ambition of its scope, and the hilarious audacity of its narrative techniques".

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida is the second novel by Karunatilaka. His debut novel was Chinaman, published in 2011. 

Set with a backdrop of the gruesome Sri Lankan civil war, the novel follows the story of a photographer who finds himself seemingly dead in what seems like a celestial visa office. He has 'seven moons' to contact the people he cares about and lead them to a hidden cache of photos of civil war atrocities.

The prize was presented by Camilla, the Queen Consort, in a ceremony hosted by comedian Sophie Duker at the Roundhouse in London. Last year's winner Damon Galgut presented Karunatilaka with his prize money of £50,000.

The book was chosen because "it's a book that takes the reader on a rollercoaster journey through life and death right to what the author describes as the dark heart of the world," said Neil MacGregor, Chair of judges for this year's prize.