Where is Pradeep S. Mathew - spin bowler extraordinaire and 'the greatest cricketer to walk the earth'? Retired sportswriter W. G. Karunasena is dying, and he wants to know.W.G. will spend his final months drinking arrack, making his wife unhappy, ignoring his son and tracking down the mysterious Pradeep. On his quest he will also uncover a coach with six fingers, a secret bunker below a famous stadium, a Tamil Tiger warlord, and startling truths about Sri Lanka, cricket and himself.Winner of the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature.

LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2022A searing, mordantly funny, state-of-the- nation satire set amid the murderous mayhem of Sri Lanka beset by civil war. 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, as the ghouls and ghosts who cluster around him can attest.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. .Ten years after his prizewinning novel Chinaman established him as one of Sri Lanka's foremost authors, Shehan Karunatilaka is back.The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida is a scathing, rip-...

Winner of the Commonwealth Book Prize Winner of the $50,000 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature  A Publishers Weekly "First Fiction" Pick for Spring 2012 “A crazy ambidextrous delight. A drunk and totally unreliable narrator runs alongside the reader insisting him or her into the great fictional possibilities of cricket.”--Michael OndaatjeAging sportswriter W.G. Karunasena's liver is shot. Years of drinking have seen to that. As his health fades, he embarks with his friend Ari on a madcap search for legendary cricket bowler Pradeep Mathew. En route they discover a mysterious six-fingered coach, a Tamil Tiger warlord, and startling truths about their beloved sport and country. A prizewinner in Sri Lanka, and a sensation in India and Britain, The Legend of Pradeep Mathew is a nimble and original debut that blends cricket and the history of modern Sri Lanka into a vivid and comedic swirl.Winner of the 2012 Commonwealth Book Prize