Irish writer Paul Lynch wins Booker Prize for novel ‘Prophet Song’

Irish writer Paul Lynch has won the 2023 Booker Prize for his novel ‘Prophet Song’, beating London-based Indian-origin author Chetna Maroo’s debut novel “Western Lane”, at a ceremony in London last night. Forty-six year old Lynch won for his novel presenting a dystopian vision of Ireland in the grips of totalitarianism, something the author describes as an attempt at radical empathy. Paul Lynch, who was previously the chief film critic of Ireland’s Sunday Tribune newspaper, said he wanted readers to understand totalitarianism by heightening the dystopia with the intense realism of his writing.