LONDON  -  British writer Samantha Harvey on Tuesday won the 2024 Booker Prize, a prestigious English-language literary award, for her novel tracking six astronauts in space for 24 hours. Harvey’s “Orbital” follows astronauts from Japan, Russia, the United States, Britain and Italy aboard the International Space Station and touches on mourning, desire and the climate crisis. A record five women were in the running for the £50,000 ($64,500) prize which was announced at a glitzy ceremony in London. The prize is seen as a talent spotter of names not necessarily widely known to the general public.

The Booker is open to works of fiction by writers of any nationality, written in English and published in the UK or Ireland between October 1, 2023 and September 30, 2024.