Sri Lankan author’s novel on cricket takes Commonwealth Book Prize

LONDON – Sri Lankan writer Shehan Karunatilaka has won the 2012 Commonwealth Book Prize, beating out New Brunswick writer Riel Nason.

Karunatilaka won the award, worth about C$16,000, for his cricket novel “Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew” (Vintage Publishing, Random House India).

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Commonwealth Book Prize chair Margaret Busby called the book a “fabulously enjoyable read” that delivers “startling truths about cricket and about Sri Lanka.”

Nason had been in the running for “The Town that Drowned,” (Goose Lane Editions), a coming-of-age tale about a flooded village.

Other contenders included Jacques Strauss of South Africa for “The Dubious Salvation of Jack V”; Alecia McKenzie of Jamaica for “Sweetheart”; and Australia’s Cory Taylor for “Me and Mr Booker.”