Shehan Karunatilaka Wins Booker Prize for ‘The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida’ - The New York Times

As a lad surviving done Sri Lanka’s civilian warfare successful the 1980s, Shehan Karunatilaka thought of governmental unit arsenic portion of the landscape. War was a changeless backdrop to regular life, much mundane than frightening astatine times.

So erstwhile helium had the thought for a caller astir a Sri Lankan warfare lensman who wakes up dead, successful an underworld populated with victims of governmental violence, helium conjured up what felt similar the astir realistic mentation of the afterlife: a tedious, dysfunctional bureaucracy, wherever hordes of confused ghosts are waiting to beryllium processed.

On Monday, that novel, “The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida,” was awarded the Booker Prize, 1 of the world’s astir prestigious literate awards.

“We admired enormously the ambition and the scope and the skill, the daring, the audacity and the hilarity of the execution,” Neil MacGregor, the erstwhile manager of the British Museum and the seat of this year’s judges, said during a quality conference. “It’s a publication that takes the scholar connected a roller coaster travel done beingness and death.”

“The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida” was 1 of respective governmental satires recognized by the Booker judges this year. The six finalists besides included the Zimbabwean writer NoViolet Bulawayo’s caller “Glory,” a parable astir an African dictator that features a formed of talking animals, and “The Trees,” Percival Everett’s blistering and darkly comic caller astir a brace of Black detectives who analyse a bid of murders that echo the lynching of Emmett Till.

The judges, who were unanimous successful choosing “The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida,” were won implicit by “the assortment of registers it was deploying, the accomplishment with which connection was used, and the assurance with which it shifted genre,” from noir to philosophical reflections to comedy, MacGregor said.

Karunatilaka was calved in  Galle, Sri Lanka, successful 1975, and grew up successful Colombo, the capital. He studied successful New Zealand, and went connected to enactment and unrecorded successful London, Amsterdam and Singapore. He has worked arsenic an advertizing copywriter, and played guitar successful an alternate stone band, Independent Square. He presently lives successful Colombo, wherever helium inactive writes advertisement transcript during the time and works connected his fabrication successful the aboriginal morning.

He appeared connected the planetary literate country successful 2011, with the work of his debut novel, “Chinaman,” astir a hard-drinking writer who goes searching for a celebrated missing cricket star. It enactment him connected the representation arsenic a talented comedic novelist, and won the Commonwealth Book Prize successful 2012.

He archetypal had the thought for the caller that became “The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida” successful 2009. It was successful the contiguous aftermath of the civilian war, arsenic Sri Lanka was undergoing a nationalist reckoning implicit the causes of the struggle and the unfathomable fig of civilian casualties. Karunatilaka wondered what processing the lingering trauma of warfare would consciousness similar if the dormant could speak, and thought astir penning a shade story.

Though helium was hesitant to constitute astir the war, helium started moving connected it years later, astir 2014. For a agelong time, helium struggled with the tone. He yet cracked the communicative unfastened arsenic a acheronian drama erstwhile helium imagined the afterlife arsenic a bland bureaucracy: “The afterlife is simply a taxation bureau and everyone wants their rebate,” helium writes.

“Maybe that is simply a plausible mentation for wherefore Sri Lanka seems to spell from calamity to tragedy, that determination are each these restless spirits and ghosts wandering around, confused, not definite what they’re expected to do, and they amuse themselves by whispering atrocious ideas into people’s ears,” Karunatilaka said successful a video posted connected the Booker website. “I thought, this is simply a utile mode of exploring this grim taxable matter, but having a spot of lightness and a spot of playfulness also.”

Written successful the 2nd person, the caller unfolds successful Colombo successful 1989, erstwhile a warfare lensman named Maali Almeida wakes up dead, without a hint arsenic to however oregon wherefore helium was killed. He sets retired to lick the enigma of his ain murder, and figures he’s been targeted for his explosive photographs. A gambler, an atheist and a closeted cheery man, Almeida tries to navigate the afterlife, and is told helium has “seven moons” to larn who killed him and to uncover his cache of photos. Along the way, helium encounters maimed and mutilated victims of sectarian violence.

The novel, which was published successful Britain successful August by Sort of Books, an autarkic British publishing house, drew comparisons to magical realist works by Salman Rushdie and Gabriel García Márquez. (It volition beryllium published successful the United States adjacent period by W.W. Norton.) “Karunatilaka has done creator justness to a unspeakable play successful his country’s history,” the professional Tomiwa Owolade wrote successful The Guardian.

Karunatilaka is the 2nd Sri Lankan-born writer to triumph the Booker Prize since it was founded successful 1969, pursuing Michael Ondaatje, whose caller “The English Patient” won successful 1992. (Last year, the Sri Lankan writer Anuk Arudpragasam was shortlisted for “A Passage North.”)

The Booker, which comes with a currency prize of £50,000, oregon astir $57,000, is awarded annually to the champion caller written successful English and published successful Britain oregon Ireland. Past winners see literate giants similar V.S. Naipaul, Kazuo Ishiguro, Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood, Ian McEwan and Hilary Mantel, and the prize has launched the careers of debut novelists similar Douglas Stuart, Arundhati Roy and Aravind Adiga.

While the prize was antecedently unfastened lone to writers from Britain, Ireland, the Commonwealth and Zimbabwe, the judges changed the rules successful 2014, and opened it up to each English-language authors whose enactment is released successful Britain oregon Ireland. Last year, the grant went to the South African writer Damon Galgut for his caller “The Promise,” astir descendants of Dutch settlers trying to clasp onto their family’s workplace and presumption successful post-apartheid South Africa.

Karunatilaka received the prize connected Monday nighttime successful London, during a star-studded ceremonial that featured appearances by the popular prima Dua Lipa and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall and woman of King Charles III.

In accepting the award, Karunatilaka said helium hoped the caller would beryllium work and taken to bosom successful his location country, and that it mightiness 1 time beryllium regarded arsenic a enactment of axenic fantasy, alternatively than arsenic a governmental satire.

“My anticipation for ‘Seven Moons’ is this: that successful the not excessively distant future, 10 years oregon immoderate it takes, that it is work successful a Sri Lanka that has understood that these ideas of corruption and contention baiting and cronyism person not worked, and volition ne'er work,” helium said. “I anticipation it’s work successful a Sri Lanka that learns from its stories.”