Congratulations to Samantha Harvey on winning the 2024 Booker Prize for her extraordinary novel, Orbital.
It’s been widely acclaimed her work which blurring the lines between literary fiction, science fiction, and philosophy, is a testament to the power of genre-bending storytelling.
What a massive achievement.
Reflecting on her win, I was reminded of a piece I wrote a few years ago about Harvey’s deeply personal memoir, The Shapeless Unease: A Year of Not Sleeping.
In that haunting yet hopeful book, she chronicled her battle with insomnia—a condition that stripped away her sense of self and pushed her to the brink.
It was writing, she said, that pulled her back.
I first heard her speak about her sleepless year on The Guardian Books Podcast.
Samantha Harvey on her year without sleep – books podcast
https://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2020/jan/14/samantha-harvey-the-shapeless-unease-year-without-sleep-books-podcast?CMP=share_btn_url
She described how insomnia fractured her thoughts and reshaped her perspective on life, and how an unusual practice helped her cope: wild swimming.
Immersing herself in icy lakes became a form of therapy.
Harvey recounted how the cold clarity of water forced her to focus entirely on the present—the bite of the chill, the sensation of being submerged—leaving no room for the chaos of her sleepless mind.
Listening to her story, I couldn’t help but recall my own ritual: the cold plunge after a hot sauna.
Sauna culture has become something of a phenomenon in Japan, and I’m a devoted practitioner.
My routine starts with a cleansing shower, followed by a session in a sauna heated to a sweltering 90–100°C. Sitting there, drenched in sweat, I feel my pores open and my body detoxify in a way that no other activity achieves.
After about ten minutes, I step out, glowing and slightly dazed, and lower myself into the mizu-buro—a tub of ice-cold water.
It’s a shock to the system but also a reset button for the mind. In that moment, there’s no past, no future—just the crisp, bracing present.
There’s something profoundly grounding about these experiences, whether it’s wild swimming in an English lake or plunging into a Tokyo cold bath.
They strip away the noise of modern life and demand your full attention, offering a rare and precious mental clarity—free from the distractions of communication, social media, and technology, allowing you to reconnect with yourself.
Perhaps this is what Harvey tapped into as she wrote Orbital: the stillness in chaos, the clarity within the cold.
Her journey—from battling insomnia to creating a Booker-winning novel—reminds us of the resilience of the human spirit and the healing power of art.
Once again, congratulations to Samantha Harvey on this remarkable achievement. I, for one, can’t wait to dive into Orbital.
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