Paul Lynch engages SIBF audience with fiction, freedom and fear

Exploring Prophet Song and its themes

Talking about his award-winning book, which has been translated into 41 languages, Lynch explained that it imagines a Western democracy sliding quietly into totalitarianism through the eyes of one woman, Eilish Stack, who struggles to hold her family together as her husband is arrested and her world begins to collapse.

Reflections on the Booker Prize experience

When asked how the Booker Prize accolade changed his life, he shared: “When you’re an unknown writer, you dream of the Booker Prize because you think it will give you the audience you deserve. But when it comes, it’s a Faustian pact. It takes you away from your solitude, from that still, small voice that made you a writer in the first place.”

He admitted that the glare of global attention had been disorienting. “Before the Booker Prize, I had peace. After it, I had interviews, translations, and noise. I’m only now finding my way back to silence.”

Writing as intuition and discovery

Lynch described his writing as a deeply intuitive process, one that begins in mystery and only later becomes rational. Quoting filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, he added: “Intuition is the spear you throw into the dark. Intellect is the army you send to fetch it back.”

Prophet Song, he said, was never meant as a political statement but as an exploration of human fragility. “Some think, why did I set it in the Western world, as opposed to war-torn areas. But the book is more about what happens anywhere when fear takes hold and the truth begins to bend.”

Literature’s moral duty

Throughout the discussion, Lynch returned to a theme that resonated deeply with the audience: literature’s moral duty. “Great art doesn’t tell us what to think,” he said. “It helps us sit with what we don’t know. It gives shape and form to our confusion, to our grief, to our longing for meaning.”

On artificial intelligence and storytelling

When the conversation turned to artificial intelligence, Lynch’s response was sharp and reflective. “AI might soon be able to write a decent crime novel,” he said. “But what it can’t do, not yet, is feel. It can’t capture that ineffable voice, the ache that comes from being human.”

Reading from Prophet Song

The audience was treated to a moving reading from the first chapter of Prophet Song, with his calm voice carrying the novel’s quiet terror through the room. Listeners were spellbound as ordinary family life was disrupted by the unfolding narrative.

Emotional Q&A with the audience

The Q&A session with the audience was equally emotional. A reader from Iran shared how Prophet Song helped her understand her mother's refugee experience. Lynch responded: "You write something in Dublin and it finds someone across the world who says, 'That's me.' That's the miracle of storytelling."

Another reader asked how he writes about fear without letting it consume him. “When I’m writing, I live inside that darkness,” he admitted. “But when I leave the desk, I return to being a dad. It keeps me sane.”

Closing thoughts and book signing

As the session ended, the audience lined up to have their copies of Prophet Song signed. In conclusion, Lynch said: “Our stories remind us who we are and that’s how we begin to find our way back. A writer’s role is to tell the truth about human beings. To hold up a mirror, so we can see ourselves clearly, even when it hurts.”

He would not reveal what he is working on next, only smiling and saying, “Talking about the next book is the fastest way to ruin it.”