The highly acclaimed space novel; ‘Orbital’ by Samantha Harvey, won the prestigious Booker Prize 2024. The winner was announced by the Chair of the judges, Edmund de Waal, at a ceremony held at Old Billingsgate in London. Harvey receives £50,000 and a trophy, which was presented to her by Paul Lynch, winner of the Booker Prize 2023. The novel takes place over a single day in the life of six astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station. Compact yet beautifully expansive, Orbital invites us to observe Earth’s splendor, whilst reflecting on the individual and collective value of every human life.

Chair of the judges, Edmund de Waal, describes the winner as ‘a book about a wounded world’, adding that the panel’s ‘unanimity about Orbital recognizes its beauty and ambition’. It is also noteworthy that Orbital has been the highest-selling book on the shortlist in the UK and has sold more copies than the past three Booker Prize-winners combined had sold up to the eve of their success. At just 136 pages long, it is the second-shortest book to win the coveted prize. It covers the briefest timeframe of any book on the shortlist, taking place over just 24 hours.