David Szalay Discusses His Booker Prize-Winning Novel 'Flesh'

Winning the Booker Prize

• 🏆 David Szalay won the 2025 Booker Prize for his novel "Flesh," receiving 50,000 British pounds and a significant boost in book sales.
• 😌 Szalay aimed to enjoy the ceremony this time, having found the 2016 experience "horrendously stressful," and was surprised by his win.

The Novel 'Flesh'

• 📖 "Flesh" chronicles the life of its main character over several decades, starting in provincial Hungary and spanning 40-50 years.
• 🧩 The narrative is structured in brief glimpses across 10 chapters, with many years separating each episode, covering diverse environments from poverty to wealth.
• 🌍 The novel explores themes of living between worlds and contemporary Europe, reflecting Szalay's own experiences of moving and making a life elsewhere.

Writing and Reader Collaboration

• ✍️ The novel is noted for its episodic storytelling and the spareness of its writing, with the Booker jury chair highlighting the effective use of "white space."
• 🤝 Szalay views reading as an "imaginative collaboration" where readers fill in gaps and help create the character, a concept he feels "Flesh" takes quite far.
• 💡 He hopes that despite the narrative gaps, readers will still form an intense and full idea of the protagonist.

Impact and Future

• ⚠️ Szalay acknowledges the need to guard against complacency and laziness now that he has won a major prize, a lesson he felt not winning in 2016 helped him avoid.
• ✅ He expresses his commitment to doing his best to remain diligent.