David Szalay's Flesh has won the 2025 Booker Prize.

Today, at a ceremony in London, David Szalay was awarded the 2025 Booker Prize for his novel, Flesh. The judges called it “a disquisition on the art of being alive, and all the affliction that comes along with it, but it is also an absolute page-turner. It’s nearly impossible to put down. The emotional detachment of the main character, István, is sustained by the tremendous movement of the plot. The pace of this novel speaks to one of the greater themes; the detachment of our bodies from our decisions.”

“I don’t think I’ve read a novel that uses the white space on the page so well,” said Chair of Judges Roddy Doyle. “It’s as if the author, David Szalay, is inviting the reader to fill the space, to observe—almost to create—the character with him. The writing is spare and that is its great strength. Every word matters; the spaces between the words matter. The book is about living, and the strangeness of living and, as we read, as we turn the pages, we’re glad we’re alive and reading—experiencing—this extraordinary, singular novel.”

Read an excerpt from the novel here.

Flesh was selected from a shortlist of 6, ultimately whittled down from a starting pool of 153 books, all written in English and published between October 2024 and September 2025.

This year’s judges were Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀, Chris Power, Kiley Reid, Roddy Doyle (Chair) and Sarah Jessica Parker.

Szalay will be awarded £50,000, on top of the resultant sales and bragging rights.