Shehan Karunatilaka & Marlon James in conversation Literature and Books

Bookshop.org is delighted to announce a live online event with Sri Lankan writer and winner of the Booker Prize 2022 Shehan Karunatilaka.

Taking place on Monday 5 June at 7pm, the event will be chaired by fellow Booker-winning Marlon James and will see Karunatilaka discuss his Booker Prize winning novel, and his upcoming projects – giving the public a rare chance to see him live. The author will be tuning in from his home in Sri Lanka. The event is offered in partnership with The Booker Prizes.

A searing satire set amid the murderous mayhem of Sri Lanka beset by civil war, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida follows the adventure of the eponymous war photographer, gambler and closet gay, who 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. Maali 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. The Booker judges said the book “fizzes with energy, imagery and ideas against a broad, surreal vision of the Sri Lankan civil wars.”

More info about the event is available here. Access to the virtual event is free when customers pre-order, buy, or have already bought a copy of The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida (either the hardback or paperback) from a participating independent bookshop or via Bookshop.org. The link to join the event will be emailed to them on the day.

Bookshop.org first launched its virtual events programme in March 2021, with an evening with Nobel Prize winner Kazuo Ishiguro and has since hosted evening with Claudia Winkleman, Yotam Ottolenghi, Brit Bennett, and Katy Hessel amongst many others.

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