David Szalay Clinches Prestigious Booker Prize for Flesh

London, UK — Hungarian-British author David Szalay has been awarded the 2025 Booker Prize for his critically acclaimed novel Flesh. The book, which follows the life of a tortured Hungarian émigré who rises and falls in fortune, won over a strong field of nominees including Indian novelist Kiran Desai and UK writer Andrew Miller.

Szalay, 51, accepted the £50,000 ($65,500) prize at a ceremony held at Old Billingsgate in London on Monday, marking his sixth work of fiction and a career milestone after previously being shortlisted in 2016 for All That Man Is.

---

A Novel About Class, Migration, and Masculinity

Flesh tells the story of Istvan, a taciturn Hungarian man, chronicling his life from a teenage relationship with an older woman, through struggles as an immigrant in the UK, to his eventual life among London high society.

Award organizers praised the book as:

“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.”

Szalay described his novel as “risky” and admitted he once asked his editor whether a book titled Flesh could ever win the Booker Prize.

“You have your answer,” he quipped while accepting the trophy.

---

Judges Praise Szalay’s Unique Style

The judging panel, which included Irish writer Roddy Doyle and actor Sarah Jessica Parker, selected Flesh from 153 submitted novels. Doyle described the novel as:

“A book about living, and the strangeness of living. We had never read anything quite like it. It is, in many ways, a dark book, but it is a joy to read.”

Doyle highlighted Szalay’s use of white space on the page, which invites readers to engage creatively with the character and story.

---

Szalay on Identity and Belonging

Born in Canada, raised in the UK, and currently living in Vienna, Szalay explained that his upbringing informed his novel’s themes of displacement and cultural identity.

“Even though my father is Hungarian, I never felt entirely at home in Hungary. Living away from London for many years, I also had a similar feeling about the UK,” he told BBC Radio.
“I wanted to write a book that stretched between Hungary and London and involved a character who was not quite at home in either place.”

---

The Shortlist and Other Contenders

This year’s shortlist included:

• Kiran Desai, The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny
• Andrew Miller, The Land in Winter
• Susan Choi, Flashlight
• Katie Kitamura, Audition
• Ben Markovits, The Rest of Our Lives

Betting markets had tipped Miller and Desai as frontrunners, but Szalay’s novel ultimately won unanimous approval from the panel.

---

Booker Prize Legacy

The Booker Prize, founded in 1969, is renowned for transforming writers’ careers. Previous winners include Salman Rushdie, Ian McEwan, Arundhati Roy, Margaret Atwood, and most recently, Samantha Harvey, who won the 2024 prize for Orbital.

Additionally, the International Booker Prize was awarded in May 2025 to Indian writer Banu Mushtaq for her novel Heart Lamp, which explores the lives of women and girls in southern India.

---

Key Takeaways

• David Szalay wins 2025 Booker Prize for Flesh.
• Novel explores class, masculinity, migration, and identity.
• Szalay beat a shortlist including Kiran Desai and Andrew Miller.
• The Booker Prize comes with a £50,000 award and significant recognition.
• Szalay previously shortlisted for All That Man Is in 2016.