Why is it in the News?

The 2023 Booker Prize has been awarded to Prophet Song, a dystopian vision of Ireland in the grips of totalitarianism.

Key Facts:

• Irish author Paul Lynch won the 2023 Booker Prize for his novel "Prophet Song," a dystopian work about an Ireland that descends into tyranny.
• Set in Dublin, it tells the story of a family grappling with a terrifying new world in which the democratic norms they are used to begin to disappear.
• He becomes the fifth Irish writer to win the high-profile literary prize, which has propelled to fame countless household names, including past winners Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood, and Hilary Mantel.

What is a Booker Prize?

• The Booker Prize is a literary prize awarded every year to the best novel written in the English language which is published in the UK or Ireland.
• It is a high-profile literary prize and thus, is much anticipated among book lovers.
• Background: It was established in 1969 by Booker McConnell Ltd, the prize transitioned to the Booker Prize Foundation in 2002, sponsored by the Man Group.
• Initially, the award was £21,000, increased to £50,000 in 2002.
• Selection Process: An advisory committee, comprising diverse literary figures, appoints a judging panel annually.
• BOOKER PRIZE winners: Indians
• VS Naipaul, In a Free State (1971)
• Salman Rushdie, Midnight’s Children (1981)
• Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things (1997)
• Kiran Desai, The Inheritance of Loss (2006)
• Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger (2008)