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Third Booker win for Oneworld as Lynch's Prophet Song triumphs
Paul Lynch’s Prophet Song (Oneworld) has won the £50,000 Booker Prize, with judges hailing the work as “a triumph of emotional storytelling”.
The Irish writer received the award from last year’s winner Shehan Karunatilaka at a ceremony held at Old Billingsgate, London. The event was hosted by Samira Ahmed and broadcast live as a special episode of BBC Radio 4 Front Row. It was also livestreamed in an hour-long online programme, hosted by YouTuber Jack Edwards.
Lynch is the fifth Irish author to win the Booker Prize, after Iris Murdoch, John Banville, Roddy Doyle and Anne Enright. The Northern Irish writer Anna Burns won in 2018. Prophet Song, the bookies’ favourite, also becomes independent publisher Oneworld’s third Booker win, having previously triumphed two years running in 2015 and 2016, with Marlon James’ A Brief History of Seven Killings and Paul Beatty’s The Sellout.
Prophet Song is Lynch’s fifth novel, described as “an exhilarating, propulsive and confrontational portrait of a country – and a family – on the brink of catastrophe”. The novel is set in an imagined Ireland in the grip of a government that is taking a turn towards tyranny. Eilish Stack, the novel’s protagonist, soon finds herself trying to make sense of the nightmare of a collapsing society – assailed by unpredictable forces beyond her control and desperate to do whatever it takes to keep her family together.
Accepting the prize, Lynch said: "It is with immense pleasure that I bring the Booker home to Ireland". He added: "This was not an easy book to write. The rational part of me believed that I was dooming my career by writing this novel, though I had to write the book anyway. We do not have a choice in such matters."
Esi Edugyan, chair of the 2023 judges, said: “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.”
During a press conference ahead of the ceremony Edugyan revealed the winner was not unanimous but insisted “we really did feel like any book was a worthy winner, so it was hardly something that ended up being contentious”, adding “we are all very pleased and happy with this choice”.
When asked about the timeliness of the novel, considering violence in Dublin this week and the conflict in the Middle East, Edugyan repeatedly emphasised that while current events were discussed during the judging process “that was not the reason that Prophet Song won the prize”.
She explained: “One of the criteria we were looking for when we sat down to discuss what would be the novel that we’d like to present to the world as our winner, was this idea of a kind of timelessness, a book that engaged with themes that are timeless. We’re dealing with timeless themes of repression, of that impulse to always save one’s family, familial love and how to endure during difficult times. Obviously these are themes that we’re seeing on a grand scale playing out in the world politically today, but that wasn’t the driving central discussion of this book, it was more about what the book was doing on its own terms.”
She said this year’s jury were also interested in “fine prose”. “We did want to look for a writer who was pushing the line a little bit, someone who was exploring language. If you look at the books on the shortlist, quite a few of them really had a kind of element of strangeness to the language and this particular jury really valued that,” she said.
The winning book was picked from a shortlist featuring Sarah Bernstein’s Study for Obedience (Granta Books), Jonathan Escoffery’s If I Survive You (Fourth Estate), Paul Harding’s This Other Eden (Hutchinson Heinemann), Chetna Maroo’s Western Lane (Picador) and Paul Murray’s The Bee Sting (Hamish Hamilton).
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was released from Evin prison in Tehran last year, delivered the keynote speech at the ceremony on how books saved her when she was in solitary confinement and how a secret library operated among inmates. One of this year’s judges, Adjoa Andoh, also read an extract from the 1990 Booker Prize-winning novel, Possession (Chatto & Windus), in honour of the late A S Byatt, who died earlier this month.
At a press conference following his win Lynch reflected on Ireland being "a great place for writers" due to the support of the Arts Council, which gave him two bursaries while writing Prophet Song. When asked about his reaction to the recent eruption of violence in Dublin, Lynch said that he was “astonished” and at the same time “recognised the truth that this kind of energy is always there under the surface”.
“I didn’t write this book to specifically say ‘here’s a warning’, I wrote the book to articulate the message that the things that are happening in this book are occurring timelessly throughout the ages, and maybe we need to deepen our own responses to that kind of idea,” he said, later adding that he is “distinctly not a political novelist”. When questioned on how he will spend his winnings, he said: "I have a tracker mortgage [...] so I’m afraid that half of it is already gone on that."
Juliet Mabey, publisher at Oneworld, said she was printing 50,000 hardbacks overnight after the win, as well as 30,000 export paperbacks in Australia and 40,000 paperbacks here in the UK. She told The Bookseller it was "very hard to know" who would win, but said it was an "amazing" feeling to have the winner three times. "It’s been 14 years we’ve been doing fiction, I think we should give up now", she joked. "It’s just ridiculous."
Lynch’s agent Simon Trewin said he was excited to see how far the book will go. "I think this experience is going to be utterly transformative because writing goes on in dark, stolen corners of lives and suddenly he will be thrust into the spotlight of every festival all over the world. I hope it will drive people towards the books, and not just this book, but the ones he’s written before, which are equally fine novels." Looking to the busy weeks ahead, he revealed: "I switched my phone off between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. and now it feels like I have a kind of back massage going on because the vibration of my phone is just going on and on and on."
Gaby Wood, chief executive of the Booker Prize Foundation, said Prophet Song "is composed of masterful sentences, and packs a profound emotional punch". When questioned why the ceremony was so late in the year, and the impact this has had on sales, with shortlisted titles competing with Christmas gift-giving, Wood said this year was delayed due to “availability of who we needed to be there” adding “we always meant it to be early November, we didn’t actually mean it to be this way". She said the ceremony will be moved to “5th or 6th November next year”. She insisted the prize has had “great engagement with retailers this year” and that “every year is different with the shortlist sales”.
Booksellers were pleased with the win. Bea Carvalho, Waterstones head of books, said: "Prophet Song is a powerful, chilling masterpiece which deserves to be read extremely widely: we’re delighted that the Booker judges have awarded Paul Lynch this year’s prize, which will introduce his works to so many new readers. This is an amazing triumph for Oneworld which yet again demonstrates Juliet Mabey’s exceptional taste: we’ll be keeping a keen eye on her list next year!"
Jo Coldwell, at Red Lion Books in Colchester, said: "This prize continues to push boundaries and comfort zones with a longlist that was initially perplexing. However, as the list shortened, customers became curious and we know that Prophet Song will be a popular decision. We are delighted that the prize goes to the Oneworld stable as they continue to support independents through the brilliant Indie Alliance. Special mention to Rosy Locke (rep of the year winner) and Margot Weale (publicity director) who actively work with indies."
Hazel Broadfoot, owner of Village Books in Dulwich, added: "I’m absolutely thrilled for Oneworld to have their third Booker Prize winner. It is wonderful to see an independent publisher doing so well – they’re having a fantastic year as this comes on top of their win at the Nibbies. They’re an inspirational publisher and I applaud Juliet Mabey. Sales of the shortlist in general have been quite slow for us – I hope this winner will do well."
