Inishowen author Paul Lynch shortlisted for €100,000 Dublin Literary Award

An Inishowen author has been shortlisted for this year’s Dublin Literary Award, which comes with a massive cheque of €100,000 for the winner.

Paul Lynch’s Prophet Song  is one of six novels in the final reckoning for the annual prize, which is the most lucrative for a work of fiction in the English language.

The winner of the 2023 Booker Prize, Prophet Song is set in a dystopian Dublin that has descended into far-right tyranny and totalitarianism.

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A former pupil of St Patrick’s Boys’ School in Carndonagh and Carndonagh Community School, Lynch spent the first eighteen years of his life living in Inishowen, after his parents relocated here from Limerick.

The 47-year-old has often spoken of how his formative years in Inishowen have shaped and inspired his work. He has written five novels, including ‘Grace’, which follows a young Urris girl’s struggles during the Irish Famine.

Seventy-one books were nominated by 83 libraries around the world for the 2025 Dublin Literary Award. All 71 books were read by the five judges who chose the shortlist of six.

Lynch is understandably thrilled to have made the final cut, and at the prospect of landing another major prize.

"It is of course a marvellous thing to shortlist for the Dublin Literary Award. It is one of the major prizes in world fiction and I particularly admire how the prize is driven by libraries around the world," he said.

"We should be celebrating our libraries and the role they play in our communities. The Dublin Literary Award has also introduced me to many extraordinary writers over the years, many in translation, as the prize includes translated works, as well as novels written in English," Lynch added.

‘Beautiful and relentless’

Speaking about Prophet Song, the DLA judges said: “Most of the time the terrible things that happen in the world happen far away. Too far away maybe to really get our attention or empathy. Paul Lynch has written a novel that makes these terrible things happen on our doorstep.”

“Step-by-step, week-by-week, the main characters are drawn into uncertainty and violence. And we understand it, we see what happens; what unfolds is unavoidable.”

“In beautiful and relentless language, like a slow but unstoppable wave, he takes us to a shore where those of the main characters who survive are at a point where it is make or break.”

The winner of the Dublin Literary Award will be chosen by a six-member judging panel, with the winner to be announced on Thursday, May 22, during the International Literature Festival Dublin.

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The novels nominated and shortlisted will be available to borrow from public libraries across the country.

The shortlist is: Paul Lynch - Prophet Song; Selva Almada - Not a River; Gerda Blees - We Are Light; Michael Crummey - The Adversary; Percival Everett - James; and Daniel Mason - North Woods.

The €100,000 prize is sponsored by Dublin City Council.

Two American novels were also shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award, James by Percival Everett and North Woods by Daniel Mason. Canadian writer Michael Crummey was shortlisted for The Adversary.

Rounding out the shortlist were two books translated into English, Not a River by Argentinian writer Selva Almada, translated from Spanish by Annie McDermott, and We Are Light by Dutch writer Gerda Blees, translated by Michele Hutchison.

Sponsored by Dublin City Council, nominations for the Dublin Literary Award are submitted by libraries and readers in major cities around the world.

“As we celebrate 30 years of the Dublin Literary Award, it is heartening to see that the broad scope of the Award still persists with a shortlist that includes nominations from public libraries in Canada, Jamaica, Mexico, The Netherlands, and United States,” the Lord Mayor of Dublin Emma Blain said.

"The 2025 winner will be chosen from an inspiring shortlist that includes two novels in translation and explores themes of power, corruption, manipulation, bravery, ghosts from the past, and a re-imagining of a literary classic.”