Paul Lynch

Paul Lynch has pierced the 21^st century literary landscape with audacious, captivating masterpieces like Grace (2017) and Beyond the Sea (2019), in which he addresses difficult truths and themes of violence, oppression, and moral ambiguity. He received numerous prizes, most notably the Booker Prize for his brilliant Prophet Song (2023), telling the haunting story of a family living in an ever-authoritarian state. Often referred to as dystopian, Lynch himself points out that the events in this book are actually happening in our world today. He refers to his own writing as part of ‘a tragic worldview’: unashamedly metaphysical stories, concerned with the inevitability of suffering and loss. He is convinced that we would do well to reflect on those notions in our mindless modern moment. Before becoming a fulltime novelist, Lynch was a film critic – and like so many geniuses, he is a university dropout.