Michael Ondaatje

Heavily armed Tamil Tiger rebels walk down a street in Achchuveli village, north east of Jaffna City, Sri Lanka, on Nov. 4, 1987.

‘A murder mystery and a ghost story’ about Sri Lanka’s civil war wins Booker Prize

October 20, 2022Books

Shehan Karunatilaka, author of “The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida,” is winner of the 2022 Booker Prize. Karunatilaka talked with The World’s host Marco Werman about the ways in which Sri Lanka’s grim history of civil war — along with a bit of “gallows humor” — shaped the ideas in his award-winning novel.