Paul Lynch has won the 2023 Man Booker Prize, becoming the fifth Irish writer to win the prestigious award.
The 46-year-old, who lives in Dublin, received his trophy from last year’s winner Shehan Karunatilaki at a ceremony at Old Billingsgate in London.
Mr Lynch said he believed he would “doom” his career by writing the book.
Lynch said of Sunday’s event: “Well, my hard-won anonymity is gone. Writing this book was not easy.
“The rational part of me thought I was ruining my career by writing this novel. Although I still had to write a book. We have no choice in these matters.”
Lynch also thanked “all the children in the world who need our protection but have lived through and continue to experience the horrors described in this book.”
He added: “Thank you for opening our eyes to innocence. So that we know the world anew, as if we knew it for the first time.
“It’s a great pleasure for me to bring Booker to Ireland.”
Other Irish authors to receive the £50,000 prize include Dame Iris Murdoch, John Banville, Roddy Doyle and Anne Enright.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was released from prison in Iran last year, spoke at Sunday’s event.
Lynch’s fifth novel, Song of the Prophet, a story about a tyrannical government, tells the story of a mother of four working as a scientist whose husband is kidnapped by the newly formed Irish secret police.
Canadian writer Esi Edugyan, chair of the 2023 jury and a former Booker Prize shortlisted author, called the story “a triumph of emotional storytelling, uplifting and courageous.”
“Prophet Song very clearly reflects the social and political issues of our time,” she said.
“Readers will find it heartbreaking and true, and will not soon forget his warnings.”
She was asked at the press conference whether the judges had taken into account recent events in Dublin, where there were a series of violent riots following knife attacks on children.
Edugyan said it was “mentioned at some point” when the book was selected on Saturday.
“I really must emphasize that Prophet Song did not receive the award for this reason, and that we did not follow world events that closely. I think it would hurt (the price) a lot,” she added.
Edugyan also said the judges are confident it will “have a great impact and will survive into this century.”
Violence in the Irish capital involving far-right elements led to police cars, buses and trams being set on fire on Thursday and shops being looted and damaged.
The judges also included “Peep Show” actor Robert Webb, “Bridgerton” actress Adjoa Andoh, poet and critic Mary Jean Chan and James Shapiro, a professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University.
During the ceremony, Andoh also read an excerpt from the 1990 Man Booker Prize-winning novel Whiplash, in honor of British writer A.S. Byetta, who died earlier this month at age 87.
Gaby Wood, chief executive of the Man Booker Prize Foundation, said: “At the start of the final meeting, the jury decided that each of the six shortlisted books would be worthy winners.
“The Song of the Prophet contains masterful phrases and has a deep emotional impact.”
Lynch told the PA news agency in September that the book was not necessarily a warning about authoritarianism because “it does happen.”
He said: “What inspires this book is the sense of the liberal democratic drift that has occurred around the world over the last six, eight or perhaps ten years?”
“It was a sense of disintegration that many of us had just witnessed and were worried about, ‘Could this happen here?’ No, it is impossible, but there are so many countries in the world where They thought exactly the same. thing.”
Lynch also beat out Irish writer Paul Murray, who was shortlisted for his novel The Bee Sting, about an Irish family facing financial and emotional troubles.
All shortlisted authors, including British author Chetna Maru, American author Jonathan Escoffery, Canadian author Sarah Bernstein and American author Paul Harding, received £2,500 and a bespoke hardback copy of their book.
Margaret Atwood, Dame Hilary Mantel and Sir Salman Rushdie are among the previous Booker winners.
Additional reporting from the Press Association.
Source: I News
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