NEWS – British writer Samantha Harvey won the Booker Prize 2024 for fiction with Orbital, a short, wonder-filled novel set aboard the International Space Station

HIGHLIGHTS

About Orbital by Samantha Harvey

• Orbital is described as a “space pastoral,” a novel about six astronauts orbiting Earth.
• The story explores their experiences and reflections over the course of 16 sunrises and sunsets.
• The novel was written during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, reflecting themes of isolation and the fragile beauty of Earth.
• The novel is 136 pages long, making it one of the shortest-ever Booker-winning books.

Samantha Harvey’s Recognition

• Harvey was awarded £50,000 (₹53.7 lakh) for Orbital.
• She is the first British author to win the Booker Prize since 2020.
• Harvey has previously written four novels and a memoir on insomnia.

Gender and Nationality on the Shortlist

• 2024 saw the largest number of women (five) on the Booker Prize shortlist in its 55-year history.
• Despite the gender diversity, de Waal emphasized that the judges focused solely on the quality of the novels, with no regard for gender or nationality.

Other Finalists for the 2024 Booker Prize

• James by Percival Everett (U.S.) reimagines Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of Jim, the enslaved man.
• Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner (U.S.) is a spy story.
• Held by Anne Michaels (Canada) is a poetic novel.
• Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood (Australia) is a saga.
• The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden (Netherlands) is the first Dutch novel to be shortlisted.

Booker Prize Background

• Founded in 1969, the Booker Prize honors novels originally written in English and published in the U.K. or Ireland.
• Last year’s winner was Paul Lynch for Prophet Song, a dystopian novel set in a post-democratic world.