David Szalay.
Photo: Ian West/PA Images via Getty Images
Beloved by the Booker Prize committee and Dua Lipa’s book club, the winner of this year’s Booker Prize is the Hungarian British writer David Szalay for his sixth novel, Flesh. He accepted the honor, presented by last year’s winner, Samantha Harvey, at the November 10 ceremony in London. The novel, published in April, follows a Hungarian man named István whose life is derailed by uncontrollable events beginning as when he’s a teenager, including an affair that goes horribly wrong. In a conversation with Dua Lipa about the novel, Szalay described how many people, like Istaván, live their lives passively: “We’re all acted on by life in a way we can’t control.”
Szalay was previously shortlisted for a Booker Prize in 2016 for his collection of short stories titled All That Man Is. While the book did not win the Booker, it did win the Gordon Burn Prize. This year, Szalay beat out former Booker Prize winner Kiran Desai for The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny and Pulitzer Prize finalist Susan Choi for Flashlight. Other shortlisted books included Katie Kitamura’s Audition, Benjamin Markovits’s The Rest of Our Lives, and Andrew Miller’s The Land in Winter. As for how Szalay will be celebrating, like his protagonist, he’s going to keep it simple. “Back to Vienna, I guess,” he told Booker Prize host and comedian Shabaz Ali. “I’ll have to pay for extra luggage weight or something.”
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