It is much harder for serious writers to survive now

Irish author Paul Lynch, who won the 2023 Booker Prize for his novel Prophet Song, was in India recently to speak at the Kerala Literature Festival held in Kozhikode. The book, published by Oneworld, is set in a fictional dystopia where Ireland is taken over by a totalitarian regime that suspends the Constitution and sets up a secret police force to crack down on dissenters. In an interview with Chintan Girish Modi, he speaks of being a writer in this day and age, what the Booker means, and stillness. Edited excerpts:

- Paul Lynch

As a writer who explores totalitarianism in his fiction, how do you respond to the expectation that readers have of you fighting totalitarianism in real life? Do you feel compelled to speak out against totalitarianism, or is this a burden you don't want?

I am not a political novelist, and I stress this again and again. My writing is designed to reflect human experience in all its richness and complexity. I think that the political lens is just too narrow a lens for serious fiction. I did not want to tell just one story.

Everywhere I go, people feel that the book is speaking to them in some kind of way, which is a miracle. The book contains a multitude of realities. There is the political aspect of the book but there are many other layers. For instance, I am always looking at the existential and the humanitarian. I write about individual suffering and alienation. Finding yourself in a world that is no longer the world you grew up in, a world where truth can no longer be known, where the real can no longer be ascertained, where law and order, and human rights no longer stand, is very alienating. This is happening to a lot of people around the world. That is what the book addresses.

What has the Booker Prize taught you about the business of publishing?