Harvey wins Booker Priz for space novel 'Orbital'

Samantha Harvey has won the Booker Prize for her poignant novel, Orbital. Ina ceremony held at Old Billingsgate, London last night, the writer was presented the award by last year’s winner, Irish author Paul Lynch.

- MAIRA BUTT

Harvey is the first woman to win the Prize since 2019, with her book being the biggest-selling title on the shortlist in the UK.

Orbital has sold more copies than the past three Booker Prizewinners combined had sold up to the eve of their success.

At 136 pages, it is the second-shortest winner of the prize, and Harvey will receive a £50,000 prize and a trophy for her success.

The book follows 24 hours in the life of six astronauts aboard the International Space Station. Their minds wander to life on earth, and memories of their relationships as they share daily conversations with one other. They observe 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets passing continents and cycling through seasons.

Speaking about her novel, Harvey said she attempted to write from a place of realism rather than sci-fi and attempted to do so with “the care of a nature writer”.

She said, “I thought of it as space pastoral – a kind of nature writing about the beauty of space”.