Booker Prize 2023: Paul Lynch of Ireland has won the prestigious Booker Prize this year for his novel 'Prophet Song'. With the feat, he has become the fifth Irish writer to have won the accolade. The Booker Prize website said that Lynch was given the prize for "his exhilarating and propulsive portrait of a nation sliding into tyranny – and one woman’s attempts to hold her family together"
"From that first knock at the door, Prophet Song forces us out of our complacency as we follow the terrifying plight of a woman seeking to protect her family in an Ireland descending into totalitarianism. We felt unsettled from the start, submerged in – and haunted by – the sustained claustrophobia of Lynch’s powerfully constructed world," the website explained the reason behind the Irish writer winning he Booker Prize.
The website further added that Lynch flinches from nothing and has depicted the reality of state violence and displacement and does not offer easy consolations. "Here the sentence is stretched to its limits – Lynch pulls off feats of language that are stunning to witness. He has the heart of a poet, using repetition and recurring motifs to create a visceral reading experience. This is a triumph of emotional storytelling, bracing and brave. With great vividness, Prophet Song captures the social and political anxieties of our current moment. Readers will find it soul-shattering and true, and will not soon forget its warnings," it added.
Reacting to his win, Lynch said, "It is with immense pleasure that I bring the Booker home to Ireland,".
"I had a moment on holiday in Sicily many years ago where I had this flash of recognition, I knew that I needed to write, and that was the direction my life had to take. I made that decision that day to just swerve, and I swerved. And I’m bloody glad I did," he added, as quoted by The Guardian.
Meanwhile, talking about the decision, Canadian novelist Edugyan said it was not unanimous and multiple rounds of voting, that lasted for six hours, took place before finalising the winner of £50,000 prize, The Guardian added.