Four Irish Authors Make the 2023 Booker Prize Long List

Readers Garden, Museum of Literature Ireland, Dublin

One of Britain’s most prestigious literary awards - the Booker Prize - contains a recording-breaking number of authors from Ireland this year.  Of the 13 books long listed for the prize, four of them are written by writers from Ireland: Sebastian Barry, Elaine Feeney, Paul Lynch, and Paul Murray. 

On 21 September, the Booker Prize committee will shortlist the list of 13 books to six finalists, and the winner of the £50,000 prize will be announced at an event in London on November 26, 2023. 

Here are the Irish contestants in this year's roundup:

Old God’s Time, by Sebastian Barry 

How to Build a Boat, by Elaine Feeney 

Prophet Song, by Paul Lynch, and 

The Bee Sting, by Paul Murray 

Ireland’s reputation as a wellspring of literary genius goes back to ancient times, when traveling bards and musicians celebrated mythical heroes such as Cú Chulainn and Oisin. Early Irish literature is said to be the oldest vernacular literature in western Europe, and examples of Ogham inscriptions on stones in counties Kerry, Cork and Waterford can still be seen. 

That literary tradition continues today with prize-winning modern authors such as Anne Enright, Anna Burns and Colm Tóibín. 

Speaking to The Irish Times about why there were so many Irish nominees, Booker Prize judge James Shapiro, said: “When you have people like Anne Enright, who is a professor of fiction at University College Dublin, training the next generation and writing great novels herself, it’s really not surprising that an island which has invested in literary culture is seeing the fruits of that in the Booker longlist.” 

Learn more about Dublin’s literary scene, literary festivals in Ireland each year, and poet Seamus Heaney, whose home in Derry is now a literary destination.  Finally read about how Irish writers are inspired by the landscape. 

 Learn more about visiting Ireland at Ireland.com.