Orbital,” by Samantha Harvey, won the 2024 Booker Prize on Tuesday. The book follows a day in the life of six astronauts.

The prize recognizes the best novel written in English and published in Britain or Ireland, and comes with a cash prize of 50,000 pounds, or $64,000 Orbital by Samantha Harvey has received the 2024 Booker Prize.

Sadly for Charlotte Wood, who was hoping to become the first Australian woman author to win the coveted and influential prize for fiction written in English, the roll of the dice in this year’s Booker fell in favour of English novelist Samantha Harvey.

Percival Everett’s “James” is the favorite for the prestigious literary award. But the likes of Rachel Kushner’s “Creation Lake” or Samantha Harvey’s “Orbital” could take the prize instead.

Samantha Harvey won the prestigious award for a wonder-filled novel, set aboard the International Space Station, that ponders the beauty and fragility of Earth.

Before Tuesday night, the author Samantha Harvey had got used to thinking of herself as a bit of an underdog. “It’s not out of self-pity, but I definitely saw myself as being on the periphery,” she says.

Britain's Samantha Harvey won the 2024 Booker Prize for her novel 'Orbital', a story about a single day aboard the International Space Station which she wrote during COVID-19 lockdowns.

British author Samantha Harvey has won the 2024 Booker Prize award with her latest novel Orbital. The novel was announced as the winner at a ceremony at Old Billingsgate Market in London on Tuesday. Harvey’s book is the first story set in space to win the prestigious prize.

The author talks to Front Row about his Booker Prize shortlisted novel James. Orbital tells the story of six space-bound humans - four astronauts and two cosmonauts - who are orbiting mother earth on a craft that keeps them a hand-span away from the universe.