The Booker Prize, one of the world’s most prestigious literary awards for English-language fiction, has been awarded to British-Hungarian author David Szalay for his sixth novel, 'Flesh.'
Szalay received the award at a ceremony in London on Monday evening. He is the first British-Hungarian writer to win the celebrated prize, viewed as the UK’s equivalent of France’s Goncourt.
Born in 1974, Szalay follows last year’s winner, British writer Samantha Harvey, who was honoured for her lyrical and concise novel, 'Orbital,' which explored the lives of six astronauts aboard a space station.
During the ceremony, an excerpt from Szalay’s novel 'Flesh' was performed by British rapper Stormzy, adding a unique touch to the event.
Described as “extraordinary” by jury chair Roddy Doyle, himself a Booker Prize recipient in 1993, 'Flesh' tells the story of István, a Hungarian man whose life journey spans troubled adolescence in his home country, migration to London, and ultimately a return to Hungary in his older years.
The novel is marked by precise and finely crafted prose, continuing the thematic exploration of ordinary lives from Szalay’s earlier work, 'All That Man Is,' shortlisted for the 2016 Booker Prize and translated into French in 2018 as 'Ce qu’est l’homme.'
'Flesh' offers an intimate portrayal of an ordinary man grappling with personal struggles while reflecting on life as a physical experience. Szalay himself said his aim was to explore “what it means to be a living body in the world.”
First awarded in 1969, the Booker Prize has been instrumental in elevating the profiles of notable writers, including Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood, and Arundhati Roy, often paving the way for international recognition and commercial success.
The prize comes with a £50,000 (roughly €56,800) cash award.
Authors shortlisted for this year's prize also included: Susan Choi, 'Flashlight'; Kiran Desai, 'The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny'; Katie Kitamura, 'Audition'; Ben Markovits, 'The Rest of Our Lives' and Andrew Miller 'The Land in Winter.'
