The prestigious Booker Prize goes to Irishman Paul Lynch for “Prophet Song”

His award winners include Margaret Atwood (“The Handmaid’s Tale”) and Salman Rushdie: Last night, the Irish writer Paul Lynch was awarded the Booker Prize 2023. The most important British literary prize with global appeal is endowed with 50,000 pounds, which corresponds to around 57,500 euros. It has been awarded annually since 1969 to an author of an English-language novel published in Ireland or Great Britain.

Lynch, 46, won the award for his fifth novel, Prophet Song, about a tyrannical Irish government. The jury called it “a triumph of emotional storytelling.” He captures the social and political fears of our time with great liveliness. In “Prophet Song,” Lynch paints a dystopian vision of Ireland in the throes of totalitarianism. The protagonist is a mother of four and researcher who has to make a terrible decision after her husband is kidnapped by the secret police. Lynch received the award in London from his predecessor, the Sri Lankan author Shehan Karunatilaka. Lynch is only the fifth Irish author to win the prize. After the gala, he said that his novel had not been easy to write. The rational part of him believed that he was putting his career at risk. “But I still had to write the book. We have no choice in such matters.”

“Prophet Song” was inspired by the war in Syria and the refugee crisis. The novel is based on the feeling that liberal democracies are slipping away. At the same time, he emphasized that it was not primarily a political book. He was more interested in dealing with the questions of life and death. The feeling of sadness can also be understood as a reaction to the state of the world. “Many who pay attention would probably say that we are experiencing a kind of dissolution.”

Lnych was “astonished, like everyone else,” about the violent riots in the Irish capital Dublin last week, for which the police blamed right-wing extremist hooligans. At the same time, “this type of energy is always beneath the surface.” The riots should be seen as a warning.

• Book tip: Paul Lynch: “Prophet Song”, 2023, Oneworld Publications, 320 pages, 22.80 euros