♦ British author Samantha Harvey clinched the 2024 Booker Prize for her novel Orbital on 13 November 2024. This is the first space-set book to claim the prestigious literary honour.

♦ The 136-page novel, Harvey’s fifth, unfolds over 24 hours as the astronauts experience 16 sunrises and sunsets, observing Earth’s vast beauty—from glaciers and deserts to mountains and oceans.

♦ Its brevity makes it the second-shortest Booker-winning novel, surpassed only by Penelope Fitzgerald’s Offshore (132 pages) in 1979.

♦ Harvey is the first woman to win the award since 2019, was honoured at a ceremony held in London’s historic Old Billingsgate. Alongside the recognition, she received £50,000 (Rs 5,450,000), which she plans to partially spend on a new bicycle.