Irish author Paul Lynch wins the 2023 Booker prize

Prophet Song is set in a near future and centers on Eilish Stack, a scientist and mother of four, whose trade unionist husband is taken by the security forces, an early sign of growing authoritarian rule that eventually sees Ireland in the midst of a civil war.

Esi Edugyan, a novelist, said that Prophet Song resonated with the Israel-Hamas war but that the novel had won solely on its literary merits. “This is a triumph of emotional storytelling, bracing and brave.”

Judges also said the Prophet Song “captures the social and political anxieties of our current moment” and unanimously came to a decision. The book won the Booker Prize, and rewarded with a cash prize of £50,000.

Anthony Cummins said in The Guardian that the judges all “felt that this was the book that we wanted to present to the world — that this was truly a masterful work of fiction”.

Paul Lynch is the fifth Irish writer to win the Booker Prize.