Samantha Harvey’s Orbital Takes the 2024 Booker Prize

Books-A-Million is thrilled to share that Samantha Harvey has won the 2024 Booker Prize for her novel Orbital, a reflective and mesmerizing story set on the International Space Station. Centered on a group of astronauts from around the world, the novel captures a single day in their nine-month mission as they orbit Earth, witnessing 16 sunrises and sunsets and observing the planet’s shifting weather across borders and time zones.

The judges selected Orbital for its “beautiful, miraculous” portrayal of our planet from above. Edmund de Waal, chair of the judging panel, praised Harvey’s work for making “our world strange and new,” saying her writing invites readers to see Earth “for contemplation, something deeply resonant.”

Inspired by watching livestreams of Earth from space, Harvey returned to Orbital during the pandemic, describing the view as “intimate and domestic.” In her acceptance speech, she dedicated her win to those who “speak for and not against the Earth.”

Orbital beat five other novels, including Rachel Kushner’s Creation Lake and Anne Michaels’ Held. Harvey’s novel has also won the Hawthornden Prize and was a finalist for the Orwell and Ursula K. Le Guin Prizes.

Get your copy of Orbital at Books-A-Million and experience the Booker-winning novel that’s capturing imaginations across the globe!

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