Irish author Claire Keegan has missed out on the Booker Prize for fiction after it was awarded to The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka this evening.
Claire Keegan's novel Small Things Like These was one of six on the shortlist.
The winning novel by Shehan Karunatilaka was described by the judges as "a searing, mordantly funny satire set amid the murderous mayhem of a Sri Lanka beset by civil war".
The book, published by the independent press Sort of Books, is a darkly comic murder mystery set in Colombo in 1990 during the Sri Lankan Civil War.
It follows Maali Almeida, a war photographer, gambler and closeted homosexual as he tries to find out who killed him in seven moons.
Ms Keegan's novel Small Things Like These is set in Wexford in 1985 and deals with themes including the family and the Magdelene Laundries.
The book was described by the judges as "a story of quiet bravery, set in an Irish community in denial of its central secret. Beautiful, clear, economic writing and an elegant structure dense with moral themes".
The Booker Prize is awarded to what is, in the opinion of the judges, the best work of long-form fiction written in English and published in the UK and Ireland.
Each shortlisted author receives £2,500 while the winner receives £50,000.
The 2021 Booker Prize for Fiction was won by Damon Galgut with The Promise.
