The Department of English is excited to welcome the winner of the 2022 Booker Prize Shehan Karunatilaka to Kenyon.
Karunatilaka is the winner of the Booker Prize for his second novel "The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida." He is also the author of "Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew," winner of the DSC Prize, the Commonwealth Book Prize and the Gratien Prize. Recently, he published a collection of short stories titled "The Birth Lottery and Other Surprises." Karunatilaka has also authored several children’s books with his brother Lalith, under their Papaya Books publishing house (www.papaya-books.com).
He has written features for the Guardian, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, GQ, National Geographic, Condé Nast and Wisden. He has played bass with Sri Lankan rock bands Powercut Circus and Brass Monkey Band and co-written the screenplay for "800," the 2023 biopic of legendary Sri Lankan cricketer Muttiah Muralidaran.
Born in Sri Lanka, Karunatilaka studied in New Zealand and has lived and worked in London, Amsterdam and Singapore. He currently resides in Colombo with his family, guitars and unfinished stories (shehanwriter.com).
Please join us in Oden Hall Auditorium on Monday, Oct. 14, at 4:30 p.m.
Cosponsored by Department of Asian and Middle East Studies, Center for the Study of American Democracy, Kenyon Campus Community Development Fund, Kenyon Review, and the Richard L. Thomas Professorship.