The Booker Prize, a prestigious literary prize which rewards works of fiction in English, was awarded Tuesday evening to the British Samantha Harvey for her fifth novel Orbital. She is the first award-winning author since 2019, the year when the Canadian Margaret Atwood and the British Bernardine Evaristo won the tie, and succeeds the Irish writer Paul Lynch.
“I’m completely overwhelmed,” she declared on stage during the presentation of her prize, during a ceremony organized in London. Moved, the 49-year-old novelist also said she wanted “dedicate this prize to all those who speak out to defend, and not criticize, our planet, those who speak out to defend the dignity of other humans and those who speak out and work for peace.” At a press conference, she reiterated her remarks, ensuring that it was impossible for her not to mention “the difficult situation the world finds itself in.”
Imbued with lyricism, Orbital tells the story of a day in the life of six astronauts, two men and four women, aboard a space station. Constructed in almost meditative fragments, this novel offers a reflection on mourning, desire and the climate crisis. The subject of the book is not so much the discovery of space, but more the place of humans in the universe. Orbital is in line with Samantha Harvey’s previous texts which are intended to be explorations of the human psyche. Like his book on memory loss (The lost memoryStock) or on his insomnia (The Shapeless Unease). This work was published in March 2024 in French by Flammarion. It was very well received by international critics.
The forecasts thwarted
Launched in 1969, the Booker Prize rewards each year the author of “best novel written in English”. Compared to the French Goncourt, it has contributed to the success of writers like Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood and even the 2024 Nobel Han Kang, who won it in 2016 with The vegetarian. The prize is a reward of 50,000 books (around 60,000 euros) and the promise of international fame synonymous with success in bookstores.
Samantha Harvey defied the odds which favored Americans Rachel Kushner and Percival Everett. The latter, several times awarded, was the big favorite of this competition with James. The Canadian Anne Michaels, dubbed by her compatriot Margaret Atwood, also leaves empty-handed despite very good reviews from the press with Held. Disappointment also for the Australian Charlotte Wood who failed to win with Stone Yard Devotional. Finally, the youngest in the competition, the Dutchwoman Yael van der Wouden, did not manage to create a surprise with her historic fresco The Safekeephis highly acclaimed first novel.
