British author Samantha Harvey has won the 2024 Booker Prize for her novel Orbital, becoming the first woman since 2019 to win the prestigious literary award.
Her winning book is about astronauts looking down at Earth and was named the winner of the £50,000 ($64,000) prize and trophy at a ceremony held at Old Billingsgate in the City of London.
Harvey was previously longlisted for the award in 2009 for her debut novel The Wilderness and is the 19th woman to win since the first award in 1969. There have been 36 male winners.
Five years ago, the gong went jointly to two women, British author Bernardine Evaristo for Girl, Woman, Other and Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood for The Handmaid’s Tale sequel, The Testaments.
It was last won by a British author when Glasgow-born Douglas Stuart was named the 2020 Booker Prize winner for Shuggie Bain.
“Orbital wins the prize in a year of geopolitical crisis, likely to be the warmest year in recorded history," said Gaby Wood, chief executive of the Booker Prize Foundation.
“A book about a planet ‘shaped by the sheer, amazing force of human want’, about an ‘unbounded place’ with no wall or barrier visible from space, with all politics ‘an assault on its gentleness’, it is hopeful, timely and timeless.”
This year, a record five women were shortlisted for the Booker.
Artist and chairman of the judges Edmund de Waal was asked about how it would look if the one man on the list, Percival Everett, won for James, a powerful retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, from the perspective of the enslaved Jim.
De Waal dismissed the suggestion, saying that “there was no question, that anyone could have won this, irrespective of their background, their gender, their ethnicity, whatever, absolutely anyone”.
“There was absolutely no question of box ticking or of agendas or anything else in the room at all. It was simply about a novel.”
At 136 pages long, Orbital is the second-shortest Booker winner, just behind Penelope Fitzgerald’s Offshore, which won the 1979 prize.
Harvey’s novel takes place over 24 hours, with 16 orbits around the Earth, and touches on the death of a loved one, a typhoon coming and the fragility of human life.
“As judges, we were determined to find a book that moved us, a book that had capaciousness and resonance, that we are compelled to share," de Waal said.
“We wanted everything. Orbital is our book. Samantha Harvey has written a novel propelled by the beauty of 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets. Everyone and no one is the subject, as six astronauts in the International Space Station circle the Earth, observing the passages of weather across the fragility of borders and time zones.
“With her language of lyricism and acuity, Harvey makes our world strange and new for us. All year we have celebrated fiction that inhabits ideas rather than declaiming on issues, not finding answers but changing the question of what we wanted to explore.
“Our unanimity about Orbital recognises its beauty and ambition. It reflects Harvey’s extraordinary intensity of attention to the precious and precarious world we share.”
This year’s judges all agreed on the choice. They included novelist Sara Collins, The Guardian fiction editor Justine Jordan, Chinese-born professor and A Thousand Years of Good Prayers writer Yiyun Li, and musician, composer and producer Nitin Sawhney, who has collaborated with Sir Paul McCartney and won an Ivor Novello lifetime achievement award.
Earlier on Tuesday, the shortlisted authors – Yael van der Wouden, Rachel Kushner, Anne Michaels, Charlotte Wood, Everett and Harvey – attended a reception with Queen Camilla, in her first public engagement since becoming ill with a chest infection.
Last year’s winner was Irish author Paul Lynch with his dystopian novel Prophet Song.
Difference between fractional ownership and timeshare
Although similar in its appearance, the concept of a fractional title deed is unlike that of a timeshare, which usually involves multiple investors buying “time” in a property whereby the owner has the right to occupation for a specified period of time in any year, as opposed to the actual real estate, said John Peacock, Head of Indirect Tax and Conveyancing, BSA Ahmad Bin Hezeem & Associates, a law firm.
Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
North Pole stats
Distance covered: 160km
Temperature: -40°C
Weight of equipment: 45kg
Altitude (metres above sea level): 0
Terrain: Ice rock
South Pole stats
Distance covered: 130km
Temperature: -50°C
Weight of equipment: 50kg
Altitude (metres above sea level): 3,300
Terrain: Flat ice
Other acts on the Jazz Garden bill
Sharrie Williams
The American singer is hugely respected in blues circles due to her passionate vocals and songwriting. Born and raised in Michigan, Williams began recording and touring as a teenage gospel singer. Her career took off with the blues band The Wiseguys. Such was the acclaim of their live shows that they toured throughout Europe and in Africa. As a solo artist, Williams has also collaborated with the likes of the late Dizzy Gillespie, Van Morrison and Mavis Staples.
Lin Rountree
An accomplished smooth jazz artist who blends his chilled approach with R‘n’B. Trained at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, DC, Rountree formed his own band in 2004. He has also recorded with the likes of Kem, Dwele and Conya Doss. He comes to Dubai on the back of his new single Pass The Groove, from his forthcoming 2018 album Stronger Still, which may follow his five previous solo albums in cracking the top 10 of the US jazz charts.
Anita Williams
Dubai-based singer Anita Williams will open the night with a set of covers and swing, jazz and blues standards that made her an in-demand singer across the emirate. The Irish singer has been performing in Dubai since 2008 at venues such as MusicHall and Voda Bar. Her Jazz Garden appearance is career highlight as she will use the event to perform the original song Big Blue Eyes, the single from her debut solo album, due for release soon.
Results
1.30pm Handicap (PA) Dh50,000 (Dirt) 1,400m
Winner Al Suhooj, Saif Al Balushi (jockey), Khalifa Al Neyadi (trainer)
2pm Handicap (TB) 68,000 (D) 1,950m
Winner Miracle Maker, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer
2.30pm Maiden (TB) Dh60,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner Mazagran, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar
3pm Handicap (TB) Dh84,000 (D) 1,800m
Winner Tailor’s Row, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer
3.30pm Handicap (TB) Dh76,000 (D) 1,400m
Winner Alla Mahlak, Adrie de Vries, Rashed Bouresly
4pm Maiden (TB) Dh60,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner Hurry Up, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer
4.30pm Handicap (TB) Dh68,000 (D) 1,200m
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FINAL RECKONING
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg
Rating: 4/5
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
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Zayed Sustainability Prize
