Paul Lynch

writer

Paul Lynch is one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary Irish literature. He won the 2023 Booker Prize for his most recent novel, Prophet Song (2023), which depicts a dystopian future for Ireland. Through the eyes of a mother of four, it traces the chilling reality of a free country’s gradual transformation into a totalitarian society. Lynch’s work is characterised by a unique poetic style and challenging existential themes such as identity, memory, and faith. To date he has written five novels, which have been translated into more than forty languages and won numerous awards. The Black Snow (2014) was awarded the French Prix Libr'à Nous for Best Foreign Novel. Grace (2017), a novel about the Great Famine in Ireland, was the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year and was shortlisted for both the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction and the Jean Monnet Prize for European Literature. And Beyond the Sea (2019) won the French Prix Gens de Mer for maritime literature.