‘The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida’, which came ten years after Karunatilaka’s prize-winning novel ‘Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew’, was praised by judges for the “ambition of its scope and the hilarious audacity of its narrative techniques.”
The book is a searing satire taking place amid the mayhem of the Sri Lankan civil war and revolves around Maal Almeida, a war photographer, closet queen and a gambler, sets out on a journalistic mission after he wakes up dead. As he embarks on a quest to identify his murdered, Maali also reaches out to the people he loves most, to lead them to some hidden pictures of civil war atrocities.
Karunatilaka received the trophy from Camilla, Queen Consort of the United Kingdom. Damon Glut, last year’s Booker Prize winner presented the author with 50,000 pounds in prize money.
While receiving his prize, Karunatilaka delivered a heartrending speech in both Tamil as well as Sinhalese, addressing the people of Sri-Lanka. He summarised his speech in English : “I write these books for you… Let’s keep sharing these stories.” He also added that he hopes that the political turmoil in Sri-Lankan ceases someday and his novels will “sit on the fantasy shelves of bookshops”.
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Neil McGregor, former British museum director and chairman of the judging panel explained to AP (The Associated Press) , why the panel zeroed in on ‘The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida’ for the coveted prize. “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,” he was quoted as saying to the news agency.
Karunatilaka’s book emerged as the winner over five other contenders - American authors Percival Everett for The Trees and Elizabeth Strout for ;Oh! William ; Glory by Zimbabwe’s NoViolet Bulawayo; Irish writer Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These; and Treacle Walker by British writer Alan Garner.
The judging panel consisted of McGregor, academic and broadcaster Shahidha Bari; historian Helen Castor; novelist and critic M John Harrison and noted poet, novelist and professor -Alan Mabanckou.
Karunatilaka, who is also a noted journalist and advertising professional, is the second Booker winner of Sri-Lankan descent, after Michael Ondaatje, who took the trophy in 1992 for The English Patient.
From Geetanjali to Arundhati: The Indian Connection To Booker prize
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Booker is one of the most prestigious international literary awards that has catapulted many obscure authors to sudden fame, as well as solidified already flourishing writers’ careers and turned them to literary giants. While the literary prize was initially limited to the writers of the commonwealth nations, it was later opened up for the entire English speaking world making the competition very fierce. However, despite the competition, over the years several writers who have an Indian connection had clinched the award. Here is a look at the writers who made India proud with their novels.
Booker is one of the most prestigious international literary awards that has catapulted many obscure authors to sudden fame, as well as solidified already flourishing writers’ careers and turned them..
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Geetanjali Shree’s ‘Tomb of Sand’ is the first Hindi novel to win the prestigious International Booker. While Shree’s exquisite work tells the story of an 80-year-old woman who steps out of depression after her husband’s death to find new purpose in life, the author says that her literary win is a victory of many Hindi writers who came before her.
A doctorate in history, Shree’s penchant for infusing humour and word play into her writing has won over the Booker judges too, who called her work a ‘luminous novel’.
Geetanjali Shree’s ‘Tomb of Sand’ is the first Hindi novel to win the prestigious International Booker. While Shree’s exquisite work tells the story of an 80-year-old woman who steps out of depressio..
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V S Naipaul or Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul placed India on the Booker map, way back in 1971 when he won the prize for his work 'In a Free State'. The Trinidad-born and Oxford-educated Naipaul is the first person of Indian origin to win the Booker. Published by André Deutsch, the winning work looks at alienation, disruption and racial tension in an unpredictable world through five connected tales.
Naipal, whose other notable works include ‘A House for Mr Biswas’, ‘The Enigma of Arrival’, ‘A Bend in the River’ among others, was also shortlisted, for his entire body of work, for The Man Booker International Prize in 2009.
Naipaul, with family roots in India, made his literary debut with the novel ‘The Mysterious Masseur’ in 1957. An intrepid traveller, his novels and reportage captured his journeys through the lens of a post-colonial society where identity and alienation in a multicultural world remained the central themes.
V S Naipaul or Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul placed India on the Booker map, way back in 1971 when he won the prize for his work 'In a Free State'. The Trinidad-born and Oxford-educated Naipaul i..
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Ten years after Sir V S Naipaul’s win, it was Salman Rushdie who repeated the feat. Rushdie’s ‘Midnight Children’ bagged the Booker Prize in 1981.
And that’s not all.
The British-American novelist and essayist of Indian descent bagged serious bragging rights - after the iconic book went on to scoop the anniversary Booker of Bookers in 1993, and The Best of the Booker in 2008 on the prize's fortieth anniversary through a public vote.
A cocktail of magical realism and real events, the novel is set around the 1947 Partition and the independence of India. Considered among the finer reads in post-colonial fiction, Rushdie’s creativity managed to ruffle political feathers after then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi slapped a defamation suit.
In 2012, the novel found its way to the big screen with Deepa Mehta bringing to life a screenplay done by Rushdie himself.
Ten years after Sir V S Naipaul’s win, it was Salman Rushdie who repeated the feat. Rushdie’s ‘Midnight Children’ bagged the Booker Prize in 1981.And that’s not all.The British-American novelist and ..
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In 1997 Arundhati Roy won the £20,000 ($ 30,000) Booker Prize for 'The God of Small Things.' With that she became the first Indian - previous winners V S Naipaul and Salman Rushdie both had Indian roots - to win the Booker, considered the ultimate prize for writers of the Commonwealth.
A story of love and death through the eyes of a set of 7-yr-old twins, it beat the other front-runners including Irish author Bernard MacLaverty's 'Grace Notes' and Madeleine St John's 'The Essence of The Thing'.
For Roy, the novel and the Booker acclaim came before she plunged herself into social activism taking up green causes and environmental damage.
In 1997 Arundhati Roy won the £20,000 ($ 30,000) Booker Prize for 'The God of Small Things.' With that she became the first Indian - previous winners V S Naipaul and Salman Rushdie both had Indian ro..
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Kiran Desai catapaulted to Booker fame in 2006 with her novel ‘The Inheritance of Loss’. At 35, Desai scripted history by becoming the youngest-ever woman to win the Booker Prize - later Eleanor Catton, 28, pipped her when she won for ‘The Luminaries’ in 2013.
Kiran, the daughter of noted writer Anita Desai, was born in Delhi and spent her early childhood in Mumbai before moving to the UK. ‘The Inheritance of Loss’, which won high praise from critics across the globe, was written over a period of seven years. Themed on migration, and shifting narratives of time and life, between past and present, it was her second novel after her first book, the critically acclaimed ‘Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard’.
Kiran Desai catapaulted to Booker fame in 2006 with her novel ‘The Inheritance of Loss’. At 35, Desai scripted history by becoming the youngest-ever woman to win the Booker Prize - later Eleanor Catt..
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Aravind Agida began his career as a financial journalist covering the stock market. The writer, in fact, wrote for TIME as he penned ‘The White Tiger’ on the sidelines, which became his debut novel, and bagged the Booker award, catapulting the author to international popularity.
The book paints a sharp contrast between the life in ‘modern India’ compared to its rural part, and shows how a person of underprivileged background can fall through the cracks of the system. While the Indian hardcover of the book sold more than 200,000 copies, it was later made into a film, featuring Priyanka Chopra and Rajkumar Rao.
Aravind Agida began his career as a financial journalist covering the stock market. The writer, in fact, wrote for TIME as he penned ‘The White Tiger’ on the sidelines, which became his debut novel, ..
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