Shehan Karunatilaka – winner of the 2022 Booker Prize – will be in South African in October and November.

His winning novel The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida tells the story of a war photographer who has woken up dead in what seems to be a celestial visa office. He has ‘seven moons’ to try and solve the mystery of his death and to help unveil a cache of photos that will rock war-torn Sri Lanka.

Karunatilka became the second Sri Lankan author to win the prestigious award, following Michael Ondaatje who won in 1992 with The English Patient.

Karunatilaka will be headlining the Book Town Richmond Festival, among other events.

Confirmed event details

Cape Town:

Date: Monday 28 October 2024
Time: 17:30 for 18:00
Venue: The Book Lounge, Cnr Buitenkant &, 71 Roeland St, Cape Town City Centre, Cape Town
RSVP: booklounge@gmail.com or 021 462 2425
Link to invitation

Johannesburg:

Date: Wednesday 6 November 2024
Time: 17:30 for 18:00
Venue: Love Books, The Bamboo Lifestyle Centre, 53 Rustenburg Road, Melville, Johannesburg
RSVP: kate@lovebooks.co.za or 011 726 7408
Link to invitation

Madibaland World Literary Festival:

Date: 30 October–3 November 2024
Venue: Richmond, Northern Cape
Website

Keep an eye on The Reading List for more information about the author tour.

About Shehan Karunatilaka

Booker winner. Writer of punchlines, manifestos, and calls-to-action. Failed cricketer, failed rockstar, failed vegan. Observer of people, machines and markets. Does not know how to use semi-colons; and unable to spell diarrhoea without assistance.

Shehan has published two novels and three children’s books, including Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew, winner of the 2012 Commonwealth Book Prize, and The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, winner of the 2022 Booker Prize.

Born in Colombo, he studied in New Zealand and has lived and worked in London, Amsterdam and Singapore.

About The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida

A searing satire set amid the murderous mayhem of Sri Lanka beset by civil war.

Colombo, 1990. Maali Almeida, war photographer, gambler and closet gay, has woken up dead in what seems like a celestial visa office. His dismembered body is sinking in the serene Beira lake and he has no idea who killed him. At a time where scores are settled by death squads, suicide bombers and hired goons, the list of suspects is depressingly long, as the ghouls and ghosts with grudges who cluster round can attest.

But even in the afterlife, time is running out for Maali. He has seven moons to try and contact the man and woman he loves most and lead them to a hidden cache of photos that will rock Sri Lanka.

Ten years after his prizewinning novel Chinaman established him as one of Sri Lanka’s foremost authors, Karunatilaka is back with a rip-roaring epic, full of mordant wit and disturbing truths.

Categories Fiction International

Tags Book events Cape Town Johannesburg Jonathan Ball Publishers Richmond Shehan Karunatilaka The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida