London: Hungarian-British writer David Szalay has won the Booker Prize 2025 for his novel Flesh, a profound and minimalist exploration of a tortured Hungarian émigré who makes and loses a fortune over the course of his life.
The 51-year-old author triumphed over five other shortlisted writers, including India’s Kiran Desai and the UK’s Andrew Miller, to claim the £50,000 ($65,500) prize at a glittering ceremony held at Old Billingsgate in London.
Written in spare yet evocative prose, Flesh traces the life of its protagonist, Istvan from a youthful romance with an older woman in Hungary to his struggles as an immigrant in the UK and eventual ascent into London’s elite circles.
Booker Prize organisers stated that, “A meditation on class, power, intimacy, migration and masculinity, Flesh is a compelling portrait of one man, and the formative experiences that can reverberate across a lifetime.”
Accepting the award, Szalay thanked the judges for recognising what he described as his ‘risky’ novel. Szalay recalled that, “I once asked my editor if she could imagine a novel called Flesh winning the Booker Prize. You have your answer.”
The judging panel chaired by Irish novelist Roddy Doyle and joined by Sarah Jessica Parker, Chris Power, Ayobami Adebayo, and Kiley Reid, selected Szalay’s work unanimously after a five-hour deliberation.
Doyle stated that, “We had never read anything quite like it. It is, in many ways, a dark book but it is a joy to read. The way Szalay uses the white space on the page is remarkable, as if inviting readers to help create the character alongside him.”
In addition to the top prize, all shortlisted authors received $3,283 (£2,500) each, along with a surge in visibility and book sales. Szalay, who was born in Canada, raised in the UK, and now lives in Vienna, was previously a Booker finalist in 2016 for All That Man Is. Flesh marks his sixth work of fiction.
The other shortlisted titles for the 2025 Booker Prize were:
- The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller
- The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai
- Flashlight by Susan Choi
- Audition by Katie Kitamura
- The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits
Founded in 1969, the Booker Prize has long been a defining force in global literature, spotlighting authors such as Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy, Margaret Atwood, and Samantha Harvey, who won in 2024 for her novel Orbital.
Earlier this year, the International Booker Prize was awarded to Indian writer and activist Banu Mushtaq for Heart Lamp, a collection of stories illuminating the everyday lives of women in southern India’s Muslim communities.
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