LONDON, Nov 10 (Reuters) — British-Canadian author David Szalay has won the 2025 Booker Prize for his novel Flesh, a quietly powerful story that traces one man’s journey from modest beginnings in Hungary to unexpected wealth in Britain.
The 51-year-old author triumphed over five other finalists, including British writer Andrew Miller and Indian author Kiran Desai, to claim the prestigious literary award, which includes a £50,000 ($66,000) prize and a major boost to global readership and sales.
Szalay was chosen from 153 submitted novels by a judging panel that included Irish novelist Roddy Doyle and actor Sarah Jessica Parker, best known for Sex and the City.
Doyle, who chaired the panel, said Flesh — “a book about living, and the strangeness of living” — became the judges’ unanimous choice after a five-hour discussion.
A Portrait of a Working-Class Life
Flesh follows István, a reticent Hungarian man whose life unfolds in fragments: a teenage affair with an older woman, years of hardship as an immigrant in Britain, and eventual entry into London’s high society. Told in spare, unadorned prose, the novel leaves much unsaid — with major events, including prison time and military service in Iraq, happening off the page.
“I wanted a book that was partly Hungarian and partly English,” Szalay said at the award ceremony, held at London’s Old Billingsgate, a former fish market turned glittering events venue. “It’s about life as a physical experience, built from simple, fundamental ingredients.”
Accepting his trophy, Szalay thanked the judges for recognizing what he called his “risky” novel. “I once asked my editor if she could imagine a book called Flesh winning the Booker Prize,” he said with a smile. “You have your answer.”
Celebrating the Everyday Man
Doyle praised the novel’s unflinching depiction of a working-class man, a figure he said is too often overlooked in fiction. “Since reading Flesh, I find myself looking differently at bouncers standing outside Dublin pubs,” said Doyle, who won the 1993 Booker for Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha. “It invites us to look behind the face.”
Critics have described Flesh as both minimalist and deeply affecting, though some expressed frustration at the lack of exposition and the protagonist’s emotional opacity. Szalay acknowledged that István “doesn’t explain himself to the reader. He isn’t very articulate. I wasn’t sure how people would respond to him.”
Doyle said the panel “loved the spareness of the writing.”
“So much is revealed without us realizing it,” he said. “If the gaps were filled, it would be less of a book.”
From Montreal to the Booker Stage
Born in Montreal to a Hungarian father and Canadian mother, Szalay was raised in the U.K. and now lives in Vienna. He was previously shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2016 for All That Man Is, a collection of stories about nine different men.
Founded in 1969, the Booker Prize honors the best English-language novel published in the U.K. and Ireland. Past winners include Salman Rushdie, Ian McEwan, Arundhati Roy, Margaret Atwood, and Samantha Harvey, who won the 2024 prize for her novel Orbital.
Szalay said he hadn’t yet decided what to do with the prize money — beyond taking “a nice little holiday” and saving the rest.
Last year’s winner, Harvey, who presented Szalay with the trophy, offered simple advice:
“Buckle up — and get a good accountant.”
