Novel by Sri Lanka's Shehan Karunatilaka wins Booker Prize
London (AP): Writer Shehan Karunatilaka won the prestigious Booker Prize for fiction for "The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida," a satirical "afterlife noir" set during Sri Lanka's brutal civil war.
Karunatilaka, one of Sri Lanka's leading authors, won the 50,000 pound (USD 57,000) award on Monday for his second novel. The 47-year-old, who has also written journalism, children's books, screenplays and rock songs, is the second Sri Lanka-born Booker Prize winner, after Michael Ondaatje, who took the trophy in 1992 for "The English Patient."
Karunatilaka received the award from Camilla, Britain's queen consort, during a ceremony at London's Roundhouse concert hall.
The judges' unanimous choice, "The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida" is the darkly humorous story about a murdered war photographer investigating his death and trying to ensure his life's legacy.
Karunatilaka said Sri Lankans "specialise in gallows humour and make jokes in the face of crises".
"It's our coping mechanism," he said, and expressed hope that his novel about war and ethnic division would one day be "in the fantasy section of the bookshop."
Former British Museum director Neil MacGregor, who chaired the judging panel, said judges chose the book for "the ambition, the scope and the skill, the daring, the audacity and the hilarity of the execution."
"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," MacGregor said. "And there the reader finds to their surprise, joy, tenderness, love and loyalty."
The winner was chosen over five other finalists: 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.
Karunatilaka paid tribute to his fellow authors on the 13-book longlist and six-book shortlist for the prize.
"It's been a hell of a ride, and I've been expecting to get off at each stop," he said.
The five-member jury read 170 novels before choosing a winner. MacGregor said all the books explored the actions of individuals in a world "where fixed points are moving, disintegrating."
He said "what's striking in all of them is the weight of history" from the legacy of racism in the United States to colonialism and repression in Zimbabwe and how that shapes the choices and actions of individuals.
"History as a player in contemporary politics is, I think, one of the things that emerges from most of the shortlist books," MacGregor said. "Which is hardly surprising, given the current debates about history."
"All these books show why it (history) has to be taught, addressed and discussed because otherwise we can't understand the framework within which people have to make the big choices, the essential choices, of their lives," he said.
Founded in 1969, the Booker Prize has a reputation for transforming writers' careers. It was originally open to British, Irish and Commonwealth writers but eligibility was expanded in 2014 to all novels in English published in the UK.
Last year's winner was "The Promise," by South Africa's Damon Galgut.
The event was the first fully in-person Booker ceremony since the pre-pandemic event in 2019 and the first for longtime literacy champion Camilla since her husband became King Charles III last month after the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II.
The event also included a speech from singer-songwriter Dua Lipa about her love of reading, and a reflection from writer Elif Shafak on what the attack on novelist Salman Rushdie, who was stabbed onstage in August, means for writers around the world.
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Congress wants to implement 'Sharia law' in country: UP CM Adityanath
Amroha: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday made serious allegations against the Congress and said the grand old party has in its election manifesto expressed its intention to implement the 'Sharia law' in the country and redistribute people's property.
Addressing an election rally in Amroha, Adityanath said, "The Congress and its allies have betrayed the country and have once again come to you with their false manifesto. If you look at the Congress' manifesto, they say that if they form a government, we will implement the Sharia law."
"You tell me, will this country be run by the Constitution made by Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar or by Shariat?" he asked.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has in his election rallies said the Congress has included redistribution of people's property in its manifesto.
"Congress people talk in their manifesto that they will implement 'vyaktigat kanoon' (personal laws). That means Sharia law will be implemented because Modi ji stopped the practice of triple talaq," Adityanath said.
"They say that we will again restore personal law. These people will implement Sharia law...," he added.
Escalating his attack, Adityanath alleged, "The Congress manifesto says that they will take people's property and distribute it. Do you want to allow the Congress and Samajwadi Party to loot your property?"
"Look at the condition of these shameless people. On one hand, they are eying on your property and on the other hand they are making the mafia and criminals their necklace and reciting Fatiha in their name," he added.
Referring to a comment made by former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh in 2006, Adityanath said, "When Dr Manmohan Singh ji was the Prime Minister, he had said that Muslims have the first right on the country's resources..."
"So where will our Dalits, backward classes, Kharagvanshis, Pals, poor and farmers go? Where will the mothers and sisters go, where will the youth go?" he asked.
The chief minister claimed that terrorism has been finished in India during the tenure of the Modi government.
"There was an atmosphere of fear and terror in the country 10 years ago, people were afraid. After 2014, terrorism was controlled and by 2019, Modi ji did such a thing that the root of terrorism Jammu Kashmir' ..
Adityanath claimed that now whenever there is a loud burst of firecrackers somewhere, Pakistan clarifies that it has no involvement.
"Pakistan is afraid that even by mistake, a terrorist incident takes place in India and some innocent citizen is killed, they will have to face consequences," he said.
Amroha will go to polls in the second phase on April 26.
