The third day of the festival of letters organised by Mathrubhumi discussed the book Seven Moons of Maali Almeida and Chinaman: The legend of Pradeep Mathew written by 2022 Booker winner Shehan Karunatilaka at the session titled Chinaman to Seven Moons which was moderated by writer Shahina Rafeeq.

Shahina shot the first question to Shehan on the best and worst thing about Sri Lanka to which he said that the best thing in his country is the landscape and the language which is more or less similar to Kerala while the worst is that the land is being squandered at every opportunity. It is heaven and hell in one place, he said.

Shehan said that as a writer he enjoys writing the book about his country in the backdrop of the civil war and has seen its destruction too. The novel is set in Sri Lanka in the backdrop of the 80s and the protagonist is a ghost who sets out to solve the mystery of his own death. 

"The worst economic crisis has brought the country to its knees and as Sri Lanka celebrates its 75th Independence Day on February 4, large amount of money has been spent for the celebrations which I feel could be utilised to feed the power or the needy," said Shehan.

The moderator posed questions about the characters in the book Seven Hills and the author read out excerpts from the book Chinaman.