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In a first for space novels, British author Samantha Harvey won the prestigious Booker Prize 2024 on Tuesday for her short novel ‘Orbital’, which follows six astronauts as they contemplate Earth from the International Space Station.
Harvey was announced the winner from a shortlist of six authors, out of whom five were women – a historical feat in the award’s legacy.
“I was not expecting that,” Harvey said upon learning of her win, the first by a woman since Atwood was recognised in 2019 for ‘The Testaments’ alongside Bernardine Evaristo for ‘Girl, Woman, Other’.
Who is Samantha Harvey?
Harvey is a UK-based author who has written six books till now, including the Booker Prize winner ‘Orbital’. While she primarily writes fiction, her only non-fiction novel ‘The Shapeless Unease’ recounts her experience with insomnia.
Her debut novel ‘The Wilderness’ released in 2009. Since then, her work has been nominated for and won several literary prizes.
Novels written by Samantha Harvey
1. The Wilderness – This novel is written from the perspective of a man who develops Alzheimer’s Disease.
2. All Is Song – This novel has a philosophical tone as it examines subjects like morality through the story of two brothers.
3. Dear Thief – Harvey’s third novel is written in the form of letter from one friend to another, exploring the consequences of a love triangle.
4. The Western Wind – Deviating from her usual genres, this novel is a detective story where a priest unravels a murder in the village.
5. The Shapeless Unease – Harvey’s only non-fiction book explores her experiences with insomnia.
6. Orbital – Spanning the course of a single day, the story tracks astronauts from Japan, Russia, the United States, Britain and Italy as they observe and reflect on their home planet, touching on themes of mourning, desire and the climate crisis.
About Orbital
Just 136 pages long, ‘Orbital’ is the second-shortest novel to win the award and the first to be set in space, according to the Booker Prize Foundation.
Edmund de Waal, chair of the judges, described it as “a book about a wounded world” with “everyone and no one” as the subject. “With her language of lyricism and acuity Harvey makes our world strange and new for us,” he added.
Harvey described her work as a “space pastoral” in an interview with prize organisers after she was named to the Booker longlist. “I wanted to write about our human occupation of low earth orbit for the last quarter of a century — not as sci-fi but as realism,” she said.
“Could I evoke the beauty of that vantage point with the care of a nature writer? Could I write about amazement? Could I pull off a sort of space pastoral? These were the challenges I set myself,” she added.
About Booker Prize 2024 shortlist
A record five women were in the running for the prize, which was announced at a ceremony in London.
The others were Rachel Kushner for “Creation Lake”, Anne Michaels for “Held”, Yael van der Wouden for “The Safekeep” and Charlotte Wood for “Stone Yard Devotional”.
Percival Everett rounded out the shortlist with his novel “James”.
(With inputs from AFP)
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