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Agence France-Presse

Irish author Paul Lynch won the 2023 Booker Prize for fiction on Sunday for his novel Prophet Song, a dystopian work about an Ireland that descends into tyranny.
The 46-year-old pipped five other shortlisted novelists to the prestigious award at a ceremony in London.
He becomes the fifth Irish writer to win the high-profile literary prize, which has propelled to fame countless household names, including past winners Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood and Hilary Mantel.
“This was not an easy book to write,” Lynch said after collecting his award, which comes with £50,000 (around US$63,000) and a huge boost to his profile.

“The rational part of me believed I was dooming my career by writing this novel. Though I had to write the book anyway. We do not have a choice in such matters,” he added.
Lynch’s book is set in Dublin in a near future version of Ireland. It follows the struggles of a mother of four as she tries to save her family from totalitarianism.
‘Stuff of fantasy’: Sri Lanka author Shehan Karunatilaka on Booker Prize win
There are no paragraph breaks in the novel, which is Lynch’s fifth.
Canadian novelist Esi Edugyan, who chaired the five-person judging panel, called the story “a triumph of emotional storytelling, bracing and brave”.
“With great vividness, Prophet Song captures the social and political anxieties of our current moment,” she said.
“Readers will find it soul-shattering and true, and will not soon forget its warnings.”
The Booker is open to works of fiction by writers of any nationality, written in English and published in the UK or Ireland between October 1, 2022, and September 30, 2023.
None of this year’s six finalists – which included two Americans, a Canadian, a Kenyan and another Irish author – had been shortlisted before and only one had previously been longlisted.

The shortlisted novels, announced in September, were chosen from a 13-strong longlist that had been whittled down from an initial 158 works.
Among them was Irish author Paul Murray’s The Bee Sting, a tragicomic saga which looks at the role of fate in the travails of one family.
Murray was previously longlisted in 2010.
Kenyan writer Chetna Maroo’s moving debut novel Western Lane about grief and sisterhood follows the story of a teenage girl for whom squash is life.
‘Tomb of Sand’ becomes first Indian language novel to win International Booker Prize
The judges also selected If I Survive You by US writer Jonathan Escoffery, which follows a Jamaican family and their chaotic new life in Miami.
He was joined by fellow American author, Paul Harding, whose This Other Eden – inspired by historical events – tells the story of Apple Island, an enclave off the US coast where society’s misfits flock and build a new home.
Canada was represented on the shortlist in the shape of Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein. The unsettling novel explores the themes of prejudice and guilt through a suspicious narrator.
The Booker was first awarded in 1969. Last year’s winner was Sri Lankan writer Shehan Karunatilaka for The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida.
The previous Irish winners are Iris Murdoch, John Banville, Roddy Doyle and Anne Enright.


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Books and literature

Irish writer Paul Lynch wins 2023 Booker Prize with dystopian novel Prophet Song

Paul Lynch, author of ‘Prophet Song’, poses with the 2023 Booker Prize. Photo: EPA-EFE

Paul Lynch (left) and the other Booker Prize finalists. Photo: AP

‘Prophet Song’’ by Irish writer Paul Lynch. Photo: AFP

British author AS Byatt, who won Booker prize for Possession, dies aged 87

AS Byatt with her work, The Children’s Book, after making the short list for the Man Booker Prize, in 2009. Photo: AP

AS Byatt reads at the launch of a series of “Pocket Canons” at St James’ Church in London. Photo: PA via AP

Author AS Byatt with her work, The Children’s Book, after making the short list for the Man Booker Prize in 2009. Photo: AP

International Booker Prize won by Bulgarian writer Georgi Gospodinov for his darkly comic novel Time Shelter

Bulgarian author Georgi Gospodinov and translator Angela Rodel are the winners of the International Booker Prize 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE

‘Stuff of fantasy’: Booker Prize-winning Sri Lankan author of The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, Shehan Karunatilaka, on his new-found success

Sri Lankan author Shehan Karunatilaka. &#xA;&#xA;CREDIT: Dominic Sansoni

Shehan Karunatilaka, author of The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida that won the 2022 Booker Prize and a speaker at the 2023 Hong Kong International Literary Festival, has talked about his recent win, his hopes for South Asian fiction, and his next book. Photo: AFP

Shehan Karunatilaka, who won the Booker Prize for his novel set during the Sri Lankan civil war. Photo: Dominic Sansoni

The cover of Karunatilaka’s book. Photo: WW Norton & Co

This year’s Hong Kong International Literary Festival has attracted top writers, including Vietnamese-American author Violet Kupersmith. Photo: Violet Kupersmith

Pico Iyer is another top author at this year’s event. Photo: Brigitte Lacombe

‘Tomb of Sand’ originally written in Hindi becomes first Indian language novel to win International Booker Prize

Author Geetanjali Shree poses with the 2022 International Booker Prize award for her novel ‘Tomb of Sand’ in London. Photo: AP 

Author Geetanjali Shree, right, and translator Daisy Rockwell pose with the 2022 International Booker Prize author and translator awards for Shree’s novel ‘Tomb of Sand’ in London on Thursday. Photo: AP

Finalists for the 2022 International Booker Prize literary competition  (left to right) Bora Chung (‘Cursed Bunny’), Mieko Kawakami (‘Heaven’), Jon Fosse (‘A New Name: Septology VI-VII’), Geetanjali Shree (‘Tomb of Sand’) and Claudia Pineiro (‘Elena Knows’). Also shortlisted is Olga Tokarczuk (‘The Books of Jacob’), who did not attend. Photo: AP

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Paul Lynch’s ‘soul-shattering’ novel is about a woman’s struggle to protect her family as Ireland collapses into totalitarianism and war
His book beat five other finalists: two Americans, a Canadian, a Kenyan and another Irish author, chosen from an initial 158 works


Paul Lynch’s ‘soul-shattering’ novel is about a woman’s struggle to protect her family as Ireland collapses into totalitarianism and war.


Ireland