Inishowen author Paul Lynch misses out on €100,000 Dublin Literary Award
Booker-winning writer had been on shortlist for literature’s most lucrative prize for his novel 'Prophet Song'
Carndonagh Booker Prize-winning author Paul Lynch has missed out on winning the 2025 Dublin Literary Award, worth €100,000.
The 30th annual award was won by Canadian author Michael Crummey for his novel ‘The Adversary’.
Lynch’s ‘Prophet Song’ was one of six novels in the final reckoning for the annual prize, which is the world's most lucrative for a work of fiction in the English language.
A former pupil of St Patrick’s Boys’ School in Carn and Carndonagh Community School, Lynch spent the first eighteen years of his life living in Inishowen, after his parents relocated from Limerick.
The 47-year-old has often spoken of how his formative years in North Donegal have helped to shape and inspire his work. He has written five acclaimed novels, including ‘Grace’, which follows a young Urris girl’s struggles during the Irish Famine, and Prophet Song, which won the 2023 Booker Prize.
The Dublin Literary Award, which receives nominations from public libraries around the world, is sponsored by Dublin City Council – and the 2025 award was presented to Michael Crummey by the aptly-named Richard Shakespeare, chief executive of Dublin City Council.
Emma Blain, Lord Mayor of Dublin and patron of the award, announced the winner at the International Literature Festival Dublin in Merrion Square Park.
“The Adversary, set in Newfoundland, is an impressive historical novel bringing the reader into a dark, unsettling story about sibling rivalry, power, and human resilience,” Mayor Blain said.
Crummey said he was “absolutely overjoyed” to have won.
Meanwhile, speaking before the winner was announced, Lynch said he was delighted to have made the final shortlist of six.
“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,” Lynch added.