Irish author Paul Lynch wins 2023 Booker Prize for his novel 'Prophet Song'

Irish author Paul Lynch won the coveted Booker Prize 2023 for his dystopian novel 'Prophet Song'. The judges hailed the novel as a 'soul shattering' work portraying a woman's fight to safeguard her family amid Ireland's descent into totalitarianism and war.

'Prophet Song', set in a dystopian fictional version of Dublin, bagged the 50,000-pound (USD 63,000) literary award at a ceremony held in London on Sunday. Esi Edugyan, the Canadian author who chaired the judging panel, praised the book as a 'triumph of emotional storytelling, bracing and brave'.

She further appreciated Lynch for his 'stunning feats of language'. Lynch, 46, was a favourite among bookmakers to win this prestigious award, which often results in a significant surge in sales.

His book outshone five other finalists from Ireland, the UK, the US and Canada, chosen from 163 novels submitted by publishers.

Lynch described 'Prophet Song', his fifth novel, as an attempt at 'radical empathy', aiming to immerse readers in the experience of living in a collapsing society.

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