Sri Lankan author Shehan Karunatilaka wins 2022 Booker Prize : NPR

Sri Lankan author Shehan Karunatilaka holds his book The seven moons of Maali Almeida at the Shaw Theater in London on October 14. On Monday, his novel won the 2022 Booker Prize.

Daniel Leal/AFP via Getty Images

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Daniel Leal/AFP via Getty Images

Sri Lankan author Shehan Karunatilaka holds his book The seven moons of Maali Almeida at the Shaw Theater in London on October 14. On Monday, his novel won the 2022 Booker Prize.

Daniel Leal/AFP via Getty Images

The 2022 Booker Prize has been awarded to The seven moons of Maali Almeida, written by Shehan Karunatilaka from Sri Lanka. The annual prize, which was awarded on Monday evening in London, recognizes a work of fiction written in English and published in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

The jury hailed Karunatilaka’s novel as “a biting, biting satire set amid the murderous chaos of a civil war-ridden Sri Lanka”.

Karunatilaka is one of Sri Lanka’s greatest writers; her first novel, 2011 Chinese, was quickly marked as the arrival of an important literary force. His work has also been published in rolling stone, QG and National geographic.

The other five shortlisted nominees for the 2022 Booker Prize were Gloryby NoViolet Bulawayo from Zimbabwe; Treesthe American novelist Percival Everett; Molasses walkerthe English novelist Alan Garner; Little things like these, by Irish author Claire Keegan; and Oh William!by American novelist Elizabeth Strout.

The Booker Prize includes a prize of £50,000 (over $56,000) to the winner, as well as £2,500 (about $2,800) awarded to each of the six shortlisted authors.

The organization also awards a separate distinction, called the International Booker Prize, to a work of fiction translated into English. The 2022 prize was awarded in June to the novel sand tomb by Indian novelist Geetanjali Shree, which was translated into English by Daisy Rockwell.