What’s On

Byron Writers Festival is thrilled to present author Shehan Karunatilaka, live in conversation with Paul Barclay at Byron Theatre for his 2022 Booker Prize-winning novel, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida.

Ten years after his prizewinning novel Chinaman established him as one of Sri Lanka’s foremost authors, Shehan Karunatilaka is back with a mordantly funny, searing satire set amid the murderous mayhem of a Sri Lanka beset by civil war. The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida is a state-of-the-nation epic that proves yet again that the best fiction offers the ultimate truth.

Event Details

When: 6—7.15pm, Tuesday 23 May 2023
Where: Byron Theatre, 69 Jonson Street, Byron Bay
Tickets: $40 Members /$45 General

About The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida

Colombo, 1990. Maali Almeida, war photographer, gambler and closet queen, has woken up dead in what seems like a celestial visa office. His dismembered body is sinking in the Beira Lake and he has no idea who killed him. At a time when scores are settled by death squads, suicide bombers and hired goons, the list of suspects is depressingly long. 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.

Shehan Karunatilaka’s rip-roaring epic is a searing, mordantly funny satire set amid the murderous mayhem of a Sri Lanka beset by civil war.

About Shehan Karunatilaka

Shehan Karunatilaka is the winner of the 2022 Booker Prize for his second novel The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida (published as The Birth Lottery in India). He is also the author of the award-winning Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew, which was selected for the UK’s 2022 Big Jubilee Read selection. Born in Sri Lanka, he studied in New Zealand and has lived and worked in London, Amsterdam and Singapore. He lives in Colombo with his family, his guitars and his unfinished stories.

About Paul Barclay

Paul Barclay is a Walkley Award-winning journalist and broadcaster who spent over 30 years at the ABC. Most recently he was presenter and producer of Big Ideas on ABC Radio National.