Samantha Harvey Wins 2024 Booker Prize for Her Sci-Fi Book 'Orbital'

Samantha Harvey has claimed the 2024 Booker Prize for her science fiction novel 'Orbital', a captivating story of six astronauts navigating the complexities of life as they orbit Earth during one day of their nine-month space mission. Harvey’s win not only highlights her storytelling talent but also brings a fresh, cosmic perspective to the prestigious Booker.Also Read: Known as the most esteemed literary award for English fiction published in the UK and Ireland, the Booker Prize has a legacy of recognizing exceptional voices. Past winners include literary giants like Margaret Atwood, who took the prize twice for 'The Testaments' and 'The Blind Assassin', and Paul Lynch, awarded the 2023 Booker Prize for his powerful novel 'Prophet Song'. Harvey’s win adds a bold, imaginative chapter to this legacy, blending science fiction with profound human insight.'Orbital' triumphed over five other finalists on the Booker shortlist: 'Held' by Anne Michaels, 'Creation Lake' by Rachel Kushner, 'The Safekeep' by Yael van der Wouden, 'Stone Yard Devotional' by Charlotte Wood, and 'James' by Percival Everett.In 'Orbital', Harvey’s astronauts representing the U.S., Russia, Italy, Britain, and Japan experience 16 sunrises and sunsets within a single day as they orbit Earth. Inspired by watching ISS videos of Earth’s orbits, Harvey was captivated by the planet’s remarkable beauty and strangeness. She sought to create a novel that reflects the wonder and joy of witnessing something so breathtakingly beautiful, which is, remarkably, also our home. Harvey envisioned 'Orbital' as, above all, a tribute to beauty and joy—a celebration of the awe and rapture found in gazing at something so profoundly beautiful that also happens to be our home.'Orbital' also received the prestigious Hawthornden Prize for imaginative literature and was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction and the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction, further solidifying its acclaim.