Out of this world: Samantha Harvey’s space novel takes Booker Prize

British writer Samantha Harvey has earned the esteemed 2024 Booker Prize for her book Orbital, a small yet compelling tale set on the International Space Station, Kazinform News Agency correspondent reports.

At a ceremony in London's Old Billingsgate, the judging panel led by writer and artist Edmund de Waal announced Harvey's triumph as a work of "capacity and resonance" that really connected with them.

"Sometimes you come across a book and can't figure out how this miraculous event happened," de Waal said, highlighting the judges' determination to find a book with both emotional and intellectual impact.

The novel with only 136 pages is also the shortest in the history of the award. “Compact yet beautiful in content, Orbital invites us to observe the magnificence of the Earth and at the same time reflect on the individual and collective value of each human life,” the award statement said.

Orbital has outsold the last three Booker winners taken together in the run-up to the prize and became the best-selling book on the Booker shortlist in the UK. 

Harvey, the first woman to win since 2019, expressed her excitement about the honor and accompanying £50,000 prize: "I'm in complete shock and very overwhelmed." She committed the prize in her acceptance speech to "all the people who speak for and not against the Earth and work for and not against peace."