Shehan Karunatilaka long-listed for the Booker Prize

Shehan’s first (I presume) fiction writing was submitted as a manuscript to the Gratiaen Prize, but was not published. His debut novel published by Penguin India brought fame, honour and many prizes to him: Chinaman: the legend of Pradeep Mathew. In it he uses cricket to write about Sri Lankan history, through the story of an alcoholic journalist – W G Karunasena’s quest to track down a missing Sri Lankan cricketer – Pradeep Mathew – of the 1980s. The book is described as “part-tragedy, part-comedy, part-mystery and part-drunken memoir” set in 1999.

In these times of absolute gloom, fear, uncertainty and constant difficulties faced in mere basic living, even a speck of brightness is most welcome. And thus the joy of getting to know that one of our own authors has achieved recognition and greatness worldwide. Shehan Karunatilaka is one among 13 authors long listed for the Booker Prize, which certainly is the most prestigious award in the sphere of creative writing in the English language.

My plan for this article is in three parts: the long list; Shehan; and the prize. I shall start with the prize first and its name change.

The Booker Prize for Fiction

was set up after the company Booker, McConnel Ltd began sponsoring the awarding of a prize in 1969 for the best fiction book. It was called the Booker Prize or in short – The Booker. In 2002, when the administration of the prize was transferred to the Booker Prize Foundation, the sponsor became the investment company Man Group. Thus the name of the prize changed to Man Booker Prize. The prize money was doubled to pounds st. 50,000, one of the richest literary prizes. In 2019, the prize reverted to its original name after the charitable foundation Crankstart became its sponsor.

The contest was originally restricted to authors in Britain, Ireland, the Commonwealth and Zimbabwe. In 2021 it was expanded to include authors of any nationality. That very year a dominance by American authors was seen. This year of the thirteen shortlisted, six are Americans.

The long list

Due to constraint of space, I list the authors and titles horizontally and not one below the other. Leila Mottley –Nightcrawling; Karen J Fowler – Booth; Hermon Diaz – Trust; Percival Everett – The Trees; Selby Wynn Schwartz – After Sappho; Elizabeth Strout – Oh William (Six Americans); Maddie Mortimer – Maps of our Spectacular Bodies; Alan Garner – Treacle Walker; (British); Graeme Macrae Burnet – Case Study; (Scot) Audrey Magee – The Colony; Claire Keegan – Small Things like These ( Two Irish); NoViolet Balawayo –Glory (Zimbabwen) and Shehan Karunatilaka –The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida.

Motley is the youngest ever entrant at 20 and Alan Garner the eldest at 87.

Shehan Karunatilaka

Born in Colombo, he had his early education in St Thomas’ Prep, Kollupitiya. He moved to New Zealand where he continued his studies in Wanganui Collegiate School and graduated from Massey University in Palmerston North. He later lived and worked in advertising in London, Amsterdam and Singapore. He is much into rock music and played in bands at Independence Square and in London. He has also written features for The Guardian, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, GQ, National Geographic, Wisden, The Cricketer and Economic Times.

Shehan’s first (I presume) fiction writing was submitted as a manuscript to the Gratiaen Prize, but was not published. His debut novel published by Penguin India brought fame, honour and many prizes to him: Chinaman: the legend of Pradeep Mathew. In it he uses cricket to write about Sri Lankan history, through the story of an alcoholic journalist – W G Karunasena’s quest to track down a missing Sri Lankan cricketer – Pradeep Mathew – of the 1980s. The book is described as “part-tragedy, part-comedy, part-mystery and part-drunken memoir” set in 1999. Most of the action takes place in Colombo’s streets, at cricket matches, in various homes and seedy bars.

Shehan won prestigious prizes for this novel: The Gratiaen Prize 2008; Commonwealth Book Prize 2010; DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2012 and in 2019 Wisden Best Cricket Book Ever. He was also shortlisted for the Shakti Bhatt First Novel Prize. That is absolutely something to crow about and for the country to take pride in. In 2015, Dileepa Abeysekera published the Sinhala translation of Chinaman: titled Pradeep Mathewge Cricket Pravadaya.In 2020 he published Chats with the Dead which a visiting expat Sri Lankan said was macabre!

I read in Wikipedia that he wrote a children’s book titled Please Don’t Put That in Your Mouth initially for his son. It was a collaboration with his artist/illustrator brother – Lalith K. Lalith had earlier sketched the ball diagrams for Chinaman and the cover for Chats with the Dead. Speaking about the book, Shehan is reported to have said “I have experienced many traumatic moments involving toddlers eating dangerous things. My daughter once mistook a wet paint brush for an ice cream and started licking it. My son is known to pick up dead insects and munch on them. I intended to write a cautionary tale, but silliness overtook it.” Fine to get a glimpse of the ‘ordinary’ man in the famous author. He is known to be friendly and is a superb speaker on creative writing.

Shehan is said to be currently working on two more children’s book, a collection of short stories and to begin a novel that he says “hopefully won’t take 10 years”. We wish him well!”

It is both remarkable and wonderful that this tiny island produced two short and long listed authors for The Booker in consecutive years. You remember, I am certain, that Anuk Arudpragasam was short-listed (one among six) for the 2021 Booker for his second novel A Passage North. His first novel: The Story of a Brief Marriage back-grounded in the North, won him the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. Born and early educated in Sri Lanka he migrated to the US and obtained his higher degree at Columbia University. His forthcoming novel, I read, is about mothers and daughters of the Diaspora.

We await with almost bated breath the results of the short list of Booker contenders to be announced in October. We do hope Shehan Karunatilaka will be among the selected six and go on to be the winner. His long-listing alone has given us a fillip in spirits; mired as we are in protests turning violent, unjust violent suppression by the government and continuing shortage of so much needed fuel on which so many life’s services depend. The worst is the disruption to schooling. I was told by someone who knows that our tiny poor country has a larger army than Britain! It just shows how topsy turvy (to use a common term) our entire country has been and continues to be; our lives made to be so too.