1 / 8Fiction, In Flesh | David Szalay has won the 2025 Booker Prize for Flesh, his sixth work of fiction. The novel follows the life of a man shaped by quiet choices and chance encounters, written in Szalay’s characteristic style of precision and restraint. Exploring loneliness and the muted struggles of masculinity, Flesh captures the unease of contemporary life with striking clarity. (Image: AP)
2 / 8The Booker-Winning Book | Written in spare prose and spanning several decades, the novel traces the life of an emotionally detached man, Istvan, whose experiences are shaped by choices and events he only partly understands. This is Szalay’s sixth work of fiction. He was previously shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2016 for All That Man Is. (Image: AP)
3 / 8What the Book Is About | Fifteen-year-old Istvan lives with his mother in a quiet apartment block in Hungary. Withdrawn and new to his school, he struggles to connect with his peers. A neighbour — a married woman close to his mother’s age — becomes his only companion. Their relationship grows into a secret attachment that Istvan cannot fully comprehend, setting off a sequence of events that alters the course of his life. (Image: The Booker Prizes)
4 / 8Who Is David Szalay | David Szalay was born in Canada in 1974, grew up in London, and now lives in Vienna. He is the author of six works of fiction, translated into more than 20 languages, and has also written several BBC radio dramas. (Image: The Booker Prizes)
5 / 8More by David Szalay | Beyond Flesh, readers can delve into David Szalay’s rich body of work, which explores the complexities of modern life and masculinity. His novels and story collections include London and the South-East (2008), The Innocent (2010), Spring (2012), All That Man Is (2016), The Western Wind (2018), and Turbulence (2018). Each book offers a distinct yet interconnected look at human isolation, ambition, and quiet resilience.
6 / 8Acclaim Before the Booker | Szalay’s early work earned several literary honours. London and the South-East (2008) won the Betty Trask and Geoffrey Faber Memorial prizes. All That Man Is (2016) received the Gordon Burn Prize and the Plimpton Prize for Fiction, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. He was also named among Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists and featured in The Telegraph’s list of Top 20 British Writers Under 40 (2010). (Image: Reuters)
7 / 8About the Booker Prize | The Booker Prize is awarded annually to a work of long-form fiction published in Britain or Ireland. It was known as the Booker Prize from 1969 to 2001, and as The Man Booker Prize from 2002 to 2018, when the Man Group plc became its sponsor. After the Man Group ended its sponsorship in 2019, the award reverted to its original name — the Booker Prize. (Image: The Booker Prizes)
8 / 8Prize Money | The Booker Prize initially awarded £5,000 to its winners. The prize doubled in 1978 to £10,000, and today the winner receives £50,000. Each shortlisted author receives £2,500 and a specially bound edition of their book. (Image: Canva)
