The coveted Booker Literature Prize goes to Irish author Paul Lynch

Irish author Paul Lynch has won the prestigious 2023 British Booker Prize. The 46-year-old, who lives in Dublin, received the prize worth 50,000 pounds (about 57,500 euros) for his novel ‘Prophet Song’, as organizers announced on Sunday evening at the awards ceremony in London. The jury called Lynch’s fifth novel about a tyrannical Irish government ‘a triumph of emotional storytelling, courageous and thought-provoking’. He captures the social and political anxieties of our time with great vividness. The Booker Prize is the most important British literary prize. The prize is awarded annually to the author of an English-language novel published in Great Britain or Ireland.

In ‘Prophet Song’ Lynch sketches a dystopian vision of Ireland in the grip of totalitarianism. The main character is a mother of four and scientist who has to make a terrible decision after her husband is kidnapped by the newly established secret police.

Lynch received the award from his predecessor, the Sri Lankan author Shehan Karunatilaka. Lynch is only the fifth Irish author to win the prize. According to the PA news agency, he said after the awards ceremony: “This book was not easy to write.” The rational part of him believed he was jeopardizing his career by writing this novel. “But I still had to write the book. We have no choice in such matters.” ‘Prophet Song’ is inspired by the war in Syria and the refugee crisis.

In September he told PA that the book should not necessarily be a warning against authoritarian government systems, as such things already exist. What underlies this book is the sense of liberal-democratic derailment that has occurred worldwide over the past six, eight, perhaps ten years. Authors such as Margaret Atwood, Hilary Mantel and Salman Rushdie are previous winners of the Booker Prize. (sda/dpa)