Paul Lynch
With five novels under his belt, Irish writer Paul Lynch is praised for his often lyrical exploration of complex themes. Born in 1977 in Limerick and based out of Dublin, he won the prestigious Booker Prize for his book Prophet Song in 2023, a novel that reminds us of how fragile democracy really is, now more than ever. The power of Lynch’s novel lies in the fact that it is neither futuristic nor speculative; it portrays the very real dystopia that many places around the world are already experiencing. The narrative is set in a country in turmoil, in a present that harks back to the violent conflicts of 20th century Dublin and Northern Ireland, but also echoes the more recent bloodshed in Syria, Ukraine and Palestine. When a newly-established nationalist populist regime feels threatened by a wave of strikes, a trade union leader is “disappeared” and his wife struggles to protect their children and her elderly father in the middle of increasing political violence, rapid militarization and the country’s inexorable slide towards authoritarianism. The Booker Prize judges rightly praised the book as “propulsive, unsparing, and terribly moving” and hailed Lynch as “an author at the peak of his powers”.
