Science fiction novel Orbital by Samantha Harvey has won the Booker Prize.

The novel is set on the International Space Station and relates the experiences of six astronauts aboard the International Space Station as they contemplate the nature of existence and the current climate emergency. The novel also shifts perspective to more whimsical viewpoints, such as that of an alien and a robot. The book has been compared favourably to popular works such as Stanisław Lem’s Solaris and To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers. Orbital has also been described by critics as ‘beautiful’ and ‘free of plot’.

Orbital, a science fiction novel

Orbital was also nominated for the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize, which is for “book-length work of imaginative fiction written by a single author” and in honour of science fiction legend Ursula K. Le Guin.

The Booker Prize makes no mention of the winning work being science fiction. Samantha Harvey describes her works as ‘Space Pastoral’, which we at STARBURST will add to our list of ‘other ways to say slow-moving science fiction’.  

The Booker has a long history of lauding works of science fiction whilst pretending the genre doesn’t exit.  For example, previous Booker nominee, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, is a novel set in a dystopian future (and inspiration for the science fiction TV show of the same name), was never labelled as science fiction when it was nominated, despite fulfilling the genre’s critical role in using speculative narrative as a lens to understand real-world concerns. These days it can be found in the science fiction section of your local online bookstore.

The Booker Prize is regarded as a serious and influential award, and winning The Booker Prize is a significant boon to sales of that book.  Harvey is the 21st woman to win since the prize’s inception in 1969. Congratulations to all involved.

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