Samantha Harvey wins 2024 Booker Prize for Orbital- British author Samantha Harvey has won the prestigious 2024 Booker Prize for her novel Orbital, a groundbreaking story set aboard the International Space Station. This is Harvey’s first Booker Prize win, and it’s a historic one, as Orbital is the first novel set in space to win the award. Harvey is also the first woman to receive the prize since 2019, receiving a trophy and prize money of £50,000. She dedicated her win to those advocating for peace and the planet.
About Orbital – A Unique Space Story
Samantha Harvey wrote Orbital during the COVID-19 lockdown, crafting a novel that captures a single day in the lives of six astronauts on a space station orbiting Earth. The story spans 24 hours, during which the crew witnesses 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets, offering a breathtaking perspective of Earth from space. Orbital spans just 136 pages, making it the second-shortest book to win the Booker Prize, behind Penelope Fitzgerald’s Offshore, which won in 1979 at 132 pages.
Harvey’s previous works, including The Wilderness, The Western Wind, and The Shapeless Unease: A Year of Not Sleeping, have been critically acclaimed, with The Wilderness even being shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2009.
Other 2024 Booker Prize Shortlisted Titles
Six books made it to the 2024 Booker Prize shortlist, including Orbital. The other contenders were:
| Title | Author | Country |
| James | Percival Everett | United States |
| Creation Lake | Rachel Kushner | United States |
| Held | Anne Michaels | Canada |
| The Safekeep | Yael van der Wouden | Netherlands |
| Stone Yard Devotion | Charlotte Wood | Australia |
About the Booker Prize
The Booker Prize, established in 1968, is one of the most esteemed awards in English-language literature. Each year since 1969, a novel published in the United Kingdom or Ireland is chosen to receive the prize, beginning with P.H. Newby’s Something to Answer For. Only three Indian authors—Arundhati Roy, Kiran Desai, and Aravind Adiga—have won the Booker Prize to date.
The Booker Prize Foundation also awards the International Booker Prize annually to a non-English language work translated and published in the UK or Ireland. Geetanjali Shree is the only Indian author to win this prize, recognized for her Hindi novel Tomb of Sand in 2022.
Samantha Harvey win 2024 Booker Prize for Orbital – Summary
- British author Samantha Harvey won the 2024 Booker Prize for her novel Orbital.
- Orbital is the first book set in space to win this prestigious award.
- Harvey is the first female Booker Prize winner since 2019.
- The story follows astronauts on the International Space Station, capturing a 24-hour day in their lives.
- Other shortlisted books included works by Percival Everett, Rachel Kushner, and Anne Michaels.
- The Booker Prize, awarded since 1968, honors the best fiction published in the UK and Ireland.
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FAQs on Samantha Harvey wins 2024 Booker Prize for Orbital
Orbital is a novel set on the International Space Station, following six astronauts over a 24-hour period, offering a unique view of Earth.
Samantha Harvey is a British author known for her novels The Wilderness, The Western Wind, and The Shapeless Unease. She won the 2024 Booker Prize for Orbital.
The Booker Prize is a prestigious literary award presented annually to the best novel published in the UK or Ireland.
The 2024 shortlist included James by Percival Everett, Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner, and Held by Anne Michaels, among others.
The Booker Prize winner receives £50,000, along with significant literary recognition.
The 2023 Booker Prize was awarded to Paul Lynch for his novel The Prophet Song.
Yes, the International Booker Prize honors translated works published in the UK or Ireland, with the most recent win by Indian author Geetanjali Shree for Tomb of Sand in 2022.