Sri Lankan author Shehan Karunatilaka won Booker Prize 2022 

Sri Lankan author Shehan Karunatilaka’s ''The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida'' won the Booker Prize 2022 on October 17.

Karunatilaka received a trophy from Queen Consort Camilla during a ceremony at London's Roundhouse concert hall.

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida is a satire based in war-torn Sri Lanka in 1990, it tells a story about a dead war photographer on a mission in the afterlife.

Neil MacGregor, the judge for this year’s prize, said the novel takes the readers on a "roller-coaster journey" of life and death right to what the author describes as the dark heart of the world, reported The Guardian. 

"And there the reader finds, to their surprise, joy, tenderness, love, and loyalty," he added.

Karunatilaka dedicated the honor to the people of Sri Lanka. 

"My hope is that in the not too distant future...Sri Lanka has understood that these ideas of corruption, race-baiting, and cronyism have not worked and will never work," he said to the media.

Karunatilaka emerged as the winner from a shortlist of six novels. 

The other novels were Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo, The Trees by Percival Everett, Treacle Walker by Alan Garner, Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan, and Oh William! These were the other books on the shortlist. by Elizabeth Strout.

Karunatilaka is the second Sri Lankan to receive the honor. Following Michael Ondaatje's win in 1992 for The English Patient, which was ultimately made into a hit movie.

Shehan Karunatilaka is a Sri Lankan author best known for his 2010 debut novel, Chinaman.