Booker Prize Shortlist

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A literary triumph: BSU lecturer shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2024

Bath Spa University’s Reader in English and Creative Writing, Samantha Harvey, has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2024.

Renowned as one of the UK’s most prestigious literary awards, the Booker Prize features the most impressive works of sustained fiction and has catapulted exceptional literature into the spotlight for the last 55 years.

This year’s shortlist features the largest number of shortlisted women in Booker Prize history and was compiled by an esteemed panel of five judges: renowned writer and professor,  Yiyun Li, artist and author, Edmund de Waal, Fiction Editor of the Guardian, Justine Jordan, award-winning novelist, Sara Collins and musician, composer and producer, Nitin Sawhney.

Sam’s novel, Orbital, transports its readers beyond the Earth’s atmosphere, offering a sobering view of our planet from space and expressing an urgent need for co-operation, connection, and respect. Described by Booker Prize judges as a ‘brief yet miraculously expansive novel,’ the narrative follows the lives of six astronauts aboard the International Space Station as they observe the world below them. 

Reflecting on her success, Sam said: 

"There’s something unarguably brilliant – if astonishing – about reaching this shortlist. I could never have expected it; so many stars have to align for a novel to occupy one of those six hallowed places, and each morning I wake up, remember that my novel is one of those six, and feel newly amazed."  

After announcing the shortlist, Booker Prize judges shared their thoughts on the six selected books, explaining why they’re worth the read. Discussing what sets Orbital apart, they said: 

“By positioning the entire planet within a single narrative frame, Orbital blurs distinctions between borders, time zones and our own individual stories. This is a vantage point we haven’t encountered in fiction before, and it is infused with such awe and reverence that it reads like a love letter, an act of worship.  

“This novel is superbly crafted and lyrically stunning. Sentence after sentence is charged with the kind of revelatory excitement that in a lesser book would be eked out of plot alone.”     

Sam completed an MA in Creative Writing at BSU in 2004. Shortly after completing her Master’s degree, she moved on to a PhD at the University, taking up a teaching post on the MA, and later as a PhD supervisor. 

This lifechanging prize will see the winning author’s career transported to new heights, with a £50,000 prize and a trophy named after previous winner, Iris Murdoch. 

The winner of the Booker Prize 2024 will be announced on Tuesday, 12 November 2024 at a ceremony at Old Billingsgate, London. You can watch the event live on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row at 9.30 pm and the Booker Prizes’ YouTube and Instagram channels.  

Do you have a story to tell? Our Creative Writing courses can help you find your voice and take your writing to the next level.