Irish Booker Prize Winners

Iris Murdoch (1919-1999) was born in Dublin and was the first Irish writer to win this coveted literary prize. She had been nominated three times previously for The Nice and the Good (1969), Bruno’s Dream (1970), and The Black Prince (1973) but to no avail. Then in 1978 she won with The Sea, The Sea, and was subsequently nominated twice more.

The Sea, The Sea is told from the point of view of Charles Arrowby, a recently retired, sixty-something actor, director and playwright. Looking to leave his former life behind, Arrowby buys a home by the sea, and uses writing as an escape. The book is infused with his memoirs – meant to be about a love affair, but turning into an account of strange events in his past life, and how they intrude on his present.

Roddy Doyle (1958 - ) is renowned for his vivid depictions of working-class Dublin life. His writing is marked by its authenticity, humour, and a deep understanding of the human condition.

In “Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha,” a ten-year-old Irish boy narrates his life events, including his parents’ sour marriage. In his memorable, funny, yet tragic, work, Doyle beautifully captures the speech patterns, consciousness and heart of an Irish child in that time period. Doyle's writing continues to resonate with readers worldwide, offering a unique perspective on Irish culture and society.

John Banville (1945 - ) had his first novel published in 1970, and in 1989 The Book of Evidence was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, before winning with The
The Sea in 2005.

The Sea is a haunting tale that follows Max Morden, an art critic who retreats to the seaside village of Ballyless after the loss of his wife. As Max revisits his childhood summers spent with the Grace twins, the reader is drawn into a world of memory, regret, and the complexities of human relationships. He recalls his exciting, yet unsettling, time with the Grace family, and the reader sees how this experience had haunted Max and shaped the rest of his life.

Anne Enright (1962 - ) was a successful TV producer before becoming a full-tim writer. Her celebrated novelThe Gathering, which won the Booker Prize in 2007, tells the story of a sister mourning the suicide of her alcoholic brother. In the novel, Enright grapples with the issues that arise in a big Irish family, explores death and dying and contemplates the dangerous allure of the sea

Enright’s material is often described as “dark.” She has commented that because she is a woman, “People want me to be nice. And they never asked Beckett to be nice. So why are they asking me to be nice?”

Anna Burns (1962 - ) is a writer from Northern Ireland, and much of her work reflects on growing up during the troubles. Her novel Milkman, Booker Prize winner in 2018, is an example of this, following 18-year-old “middle sister" who is harassed by an older married man known as "the milkman". Middle sister is busy attempting to keep her mother from discovering her maybe-boyfriend and to keep everyone in the dark about her encounters with Milkman. But when first brother-in-law sniffs out her struggle, and rumours start to swell, middle sister becomes ‘interesting’. The last thing she ever wanted to be. To be interesting is to be noticed and to be noticed is dangerous… Milkman also won the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction and International Dublin Literary Award.

Paul Lynch (1977- ) has authored five novels including ‘Prophet Song’ which won the Booker Prize in 2023. ‘Prophet Song’ is a fearless portrait of a society on the brink as a mother faces a terrible choice. On a dark, wet evening in Dublin, scientist and mother-of-four Eilish Stack answers her front door to find two officers from Ireland’s newly formed secret police on the door step. They want to interrogate her husband, a trade unionist. The country is in the grip of a government turning towards tyranny and Eilish can only watch helplessly as the world she knew disappears. When first her husband and then her eldest son vanish, Eilish finds herself caught within the nightmare logic of a collapsing society. How far will she go to save her family? And what – or who – is she willing to leave behind?