Booker Prize-shortlisted author Samantha Harvey sat down with Mancunian Matters to discuss her nomination, female representation in the industry and her writing process – just days before the 2024 winner is announced on Tuesday.
Harvey was nominated for Orbital – her fifth novel – which follows a day in the life of six astronauts on the International Space Station. The book explores the disorienting nature of time, whilst grappling with themes of memory and identity.
The Booker Prize is considered one of the most prestigious literary awards in the world. Six authors were selected for the shortlist in September and the winner will receive £50,000 on top of international recognition.
On being nominated, Harvey said: “I felt this immense gratitude, and a sense of luck. There’s a lot of serendipity and I’m determined to make it last.
“That validation of your work is so energising, validating… and fuelling.
“It will always galvanise me, it feels unequivocally like a gift.”
The six books were selected from 156 works submitted by publishers. Notably, the shortlist includes five female authors, the most women selected in the 55 years of the prize’s history.
Harvey said: “Five out of six is proof of a shift that has been happening for decades. It’s a reflection of the fact that the industry is full of brilliant women.
“I think that it worries men. But it shouldn’t!”
Harvey is widely praised for her lyrical prose and use of voice in her novels. Orbital follows the perspectives of six astronauts, each with their own distinct voice.
Harvey said: “The music and the timbre of the voice come as I write. I try to think – what do I want the music of this sentence to be?”
Harvey often cites Virginia Woolf as one of her greatest influences: “I remember reading Mrs Dalloway, and thinking that I didn’t know you could do this with words. I remember wondering – what else can words do?”
The interview took place in Manchester Waterstones, following an event with three other Booker Prize nominees, meeting for the first time in person.
“I love it here in the North, I feel an affinity with it. I can see myself living here one day,” Harvey said.
The five other nominees for the Booker Prize are Yael van der Woeden (The Safekeep), Anne Michaels (Held), Percival Everett (James), Rachel Kushner (Creation Lake) and Charlotte Wood (Stone Yard Devotional).
The winner of the Booker Prize will be announced on Tuesday 12 November, in London. The event will be livestreamed on the Booker Prize’s Instagram, YouTube and TikTok channels.
Feature image: Luminish, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
