Everything you need to know about Orbital by Samantha Harvey, winner of the Booker Prize 2024
As Samantha Harvey becomes the first woman since 2019 to win the Booker Prize, here’s the lowdown on her winning novel, Orbital
Samantha Harvey
Winner of the Booker Prize 2024 for Orbital. Samantha Harvey lives in the UK and is a tutor on the MA course in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University
Winner of the Booker Prize 2024 for Orbital. She has been longlisted for the Booker Prize twice, for The Wilderness in 2009 and shortlisted for Orbital in 2024. Harvey is also the author of the novels All is Song, Dear Thief and The Western Wind, and a work of non-fiction, The Shapeless Unease: A Year of Not Sleeping. She has been shortlisted for the James Tait Black Award, the Women’s Prize, the Guardian First Book Award and the Walter Scott Prize. The Wilderness was awarded the Betty Trask Prize. In November 2024, Orbital won the Booker Prize.
Six astronauts observe Earth’s splendour while navigating bereavement, loneliness and mission fatigue. Compact yet beautifully expansive, this is a love letter to our planet
— The 2024 judges on Orbital
Samantha Harvey's winning moment, in pictures
Samantha Harvey’s winning moment at the Booker Prize 2024 ceremony
© Neo Gilder
Samantha Harvey’s winning moment at the Booker Prize 2024 ceremony
© Neo Gilder
2024 and 2023 winners Samantha Harvey and Paul Lynch at the Booker Prize 2024 ceremony
© Neo Gilder
BBC News presenter Katie Razzall with winning author Samantha Harvey at the Booker Prize 2024 ceremony
© Neo Gilder
Samantha Harvey, winner of the Booker Prize 2024
© Neo GilderA Q&A with Samantha Harvey
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Winner The Booker Prize 2024
- By
- Samantha Harvey
- Published by
- Jonathan Cape
Orbital is the winner of the Booker Prize 2024. Six astronauts rotate in the International Space Station. They are there to do vital work, but slowly they begin to wonder: what is life without Earth? What is Earth without humanity?
Other nominated books
Samantha Harvey asks a question. What will Jake be able salvage from the wreckage of his mind: beauty, perhaps, the memory of love, or nothing at all?
