News
Sri Lankan author Shehan Karunatilaka wins with supernatural satire

Booker Prize 2022:
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka, a supernatural satire has won the Booker Prize.
Shehan’s novel is about a photographer who wakes up dead with a week to ask his friends to find his photos and expose the brutality of war.
Camilla, the Queen Consort, presented the prize, and the author said it had been “an honour and a privilege” to be on the shortlist.
Pop singer Dua Lipa was the star guest.
The prestigious £50,000 prize, for a single work of fiction published in the UK in English, also gives the other five writers, on the shortlist, £2,500 each.
The writer said he decided, in 2009, to write “a ghost story where the dead could offer their perspective” after the end of the Sri Lankan civil war, “when there was a raging debate over how many civilians died and whose fault it was”.
Head judge Neil MacGregor praised the “scope and the skill, the daring, the audacity and hilarity” of the novel, calling it an “afterlife noir” which “takes the reader on a rollercoaster journey through life and death”.
He said the judges’ decision had been unanimous, adding all of the shortlisted books were “all really about one question, and that is what’s the point of an individual life?”
Karunatilaka said as he accepted his prize: “My hope is that in the not too distant future… Sri Lanka has understood that these ideas of corruption and race-baiting and cronyism have not worked and will never work.
‘I have self-censored’
“I hope it’s in print in 10 years… if it is, I hope it’s written in a Sri Lanka that learns from its stories, and that Seven Moons will be in the fantasy section of the bookshop, next to the dragons, the unicorns and will not be mistaken for realism or political satire.”
He later added that he had “self-censored” a couple of short stories after author Salman Rushdie was stabbed in August, having faced years of death threats for his novel The Satanic Verses, which some Muslims see as blasphemous.
“I was in the process of publishing a collection of short stories when this incident happened, and I discovered a couple which I don’t think was offensive to any religion,” Karunatilaka said.
“But my wife said, can you not do that? You’ve got two young kids. This story is not that good. Just leave it out.”
He added that “this is something that hangs over all of us if we’re writing in South Asia, especially writing about politics or religion”.
Dua Lipa made a speech talking about her “passion” for reading, calling it “one of the most profound joys in the world”.
The singer-songwriter, who was the UK’s most-played artiste of 2020 and recommends books she enjoys on social media, said she had read all six shortlisted books, and “absolutely loved it”.
She spoke about the importance of books in her life, telling the BBC’s Rebecca Jones that reading “helps me navigate through life and understand emotions and feelings, it’s my solace”.
The BBC asked Gaby Wood, Director of the Booker Prize Foundation, if Dua Lipa’s appearance was trying to appeal to younger audiences, and she said: “Our sense is that the Booker Prize is a living thing. You need to try to make sure people think it’s for them.”
News
Inayet passes away

Renowned businessman Inayet Akbarally, a prominent figure in the Lankan business community, has passed away at the age of 88.
Akbarally was a pivotal figure in the success of Akbar Brothers, a company he co-founded with his late brothers, Abbas and Abid Akbarally.
Together, they played an instrumental role in establishing Akbar Brothers as a global leader in the tea industry.
Under their leadership, the company once became the world’s largest tea exporter and has remained Sri Lanka’s largest tea exporter for over 20 years.
Akbar Brothers was crucial in bringing worldwide recognition to Ceylon Tea, significantly contributing to Sri Lanka’s economy and creating numerous employment opportunities for the country’s citizens.
Akbar Group, the parent company, is also involved in various industries such as property development, healthcare, and electricity generation.
In July 2022, the company expanded its operations to Oman.
News
Seetha Ranjani passes away

Veteran journalist Seetha Ranjani passed away in Anuradhapura yesterday. She was 70.
She was a prominent figure in Sri Lanka’s struggle for media freedom.
Funeral arrangements will be notified later
News
DEW and Charitha to talk on foreign policy

Former minister Dew Gunasekera and ex-MP Prof. Charitha Herath are scheduled to talk on Sri Lanka’s foreign policy against the backdrop of US foreign policy shift following Donald Trump’s election as the President at the Communist Party , No 91, Dr. N.M. Perera Mawatha, Colombo 08. The programme is scheduled to s tart at 3 pm on Thursday (20).
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