Rafaela Prifti/
The Booker Prize is a prestigious literary award in the English speaking world given out annually by the Booker Prize Foundation, a charity whose stated aim is to “promote the art and value of literature for the public benefit”.
The 2022 Booker Prize was awarded to the Sri Lankan writer Shehan Karunatilaka for his novel The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida – one of the political satires recognized by this year’s judges. The short list of six finalists which included another Sri Lanka-born writer was announced in September. The press release stated that the selection was made from 169 novels published between October 1, 2021 and September 30, 2022 and submitted to the prize by publishers. The Booker Prize is open to works by writers of any nationality, written in English and published in the UK or Ireland.
Having lived through the decades-long civil war in Sri Lanka, Karunatilaka set out to explore the trauma of the political violence, which he saw as “a constant backdrop to daily life growing up.” At the center of his searing satire is a Sri Lankan war photographer who wakes up dead, in a purgatory like underworld populated with victims of political violence. War has been part of the island nation’s history which was occupied by the Portuguese in the 16th century then by the Dutch in the 17th century, and was ceded to the British in 1796. As Ceylon, it became independent in 1948. Its name was changed to Sri Lanka in 1972. After two decades of civil war, a cease-fire was formalized. Tensions and violence between the fighting groups have intensified yet again as neither side has withdrawn.
During interviews Karunatilaka related that in the immediate aftermath of a disastrous civil war he wondered “how processing the lingering trauma of war would feel like if the dead could speak.” With hesitation about the gruesome topic of war, he worked on the tone of the novel for years, finally opting for dark comedy that is narrated in the second person by a ghost presenting ” the afterlife as a bland bureaucracy.” The main character Maali Almeida is a photo journalist who wakes up dead. Confused and clueless as to how or why he was killed, the protagonist sets out to solve the mystery of his own murder but is told he has only “seven moons” to learn who killed him. While discovering he’s been targeted for his explosive photographs, he meets with victims of violence who populate the underworld. His second novel has drawn comparisons with magical realist works by Salman Rushdie and Gabriel García Márquez. “Karunatilaka has done artistic justice to a terrible period in his country’s history,” wrote The Guardian. Critics have called it “an instant classic” and “a stunning epic”.
Karunatilaka was born in Sri Lanka, in 1975, and grew up in Colombo, the capital, where he currently lives. He studied in New Zealand, and went on to work and live in London, Amsterdam and Singapore. He still writes ad copy and manages a bank’s website.
In 2011, he earned recognition with the publication of his debut novel, “Chinaman,” about a hard-drinking journalist who goes searching for a famous missing cricket star.
Booker Prize-winning novel The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida is published in the United States by W.W. Norton. A sister prize, the International Booker Prize, is awarded for a book translated into English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland.
Pedagogët e disa universiteteve publike në Shqipëri kanë dalë sërish në protestë të hënën, për të kërkuar plotësimin e kërkesave të tyre, përfshir rritjen e pagës. Protesta e pedagovëve të universiteteve shqiptare ka filluar tre javë më parë, kur ka filluar edhe viti i ri akademik. Njoftohet gjithashtu se protesta e pedagogëve shqiptarë mund të përshkallëzohet deri në një protestë që përfshin grevën e urisë. 
