Irish author Paul Lynch wins Booker Prize for Literature
Irish author Paul Lynch has won the prestigious British Booker Prize 2023. The 46-year-old, who lives in Dublin, received the 50,000 pound (around 57,500 euros) award for his novel "Prophet Song", as the organizers announced at the award ceremony in London.
The jury called Lynch's fifth novel about a tyrannical Irish government "a triumph of emotional storytelling, courageous and inspiring". He captures the social and political anxieties of our time with great vividness. The Booker Prize is the most important British literary prize. It is awarded annually to the author of an English-language novel published in Great Britain or Ireland.
‘This was not an easy book to write.’
Watch @paullynchwriter's #BookerPrize2023 acceptance speech.https://t.co/o890YuwYOV pic.twitter.com/AgQ65hPGhg
— The Booker Prizes (@TheBookerPrizes) November 26, 2023
In "Prophet Song", Lynch paints a dystopian vision of Ireland in the grip of totalitarianism. The protagonist is a mother of four and scientist who has to make a terrible decision after her husband is kidnapped by the newly formed secret police.
Book inspired by war in Syria and refugee crisis
Lynch received the award from his predecessor, Sri Lankan-born author Shehan Karunatilaka. Lynch is only the fifth Irish author to receive the award. According to the PA news agency, he said after the award ceremony: "This book was not easy to write." The rational part of him believed that he was putting his career at risk by writing this novel. "But I had to write the book anyway. We have no choice in such matters." "Prophet Song" was inspired by the war in Syria and the refugee crisis, he said.
In September, he told PA that the book did not necessarily have to be a warning against authoritarian government, as such a thing already existed. What underlies this book, he said, is the sense of liberal-democratic slippage that has taken place around the world over the last six, eight, maybe ten years. Authors such as Margaret Atwood, Hilary Mantel and Salman Rushdie were previous Booker Prize winners.
Paul Lynch's victory in the Booker Prize for Literature adds another prestigious award to his writing career. His novel "Prophet Song," which draws inspiration from the war in Syria and the refugee crisis, has resonated with the jury and the literary community due to its emotionally powerful storytelling and portrayal of social and political anxieties.
Source: www.dpa.com
