British-Hungarian author David Szalay wins 2025 Booker Prize for novel 'Flesh'

British Hungarian author David Szalay has won this year’s Booker Prize for his book ‘Flesh’, chosen among six other shortlisted books. Chief Judge Roddy Doyle called Szalay’s work “a dark book, but a joy to read”.

Taking the stage for his acceptance speech, Szalay revealed that his book “felt risky”, adding that even the title of his work seemed risky to him. “There was a sense of risk being taken. And I think it’s very important that we did take those risks. Fiction can take risks - aesthetic, formal or even moral risks. It’s important the novel community embraces risk,” the Booker Prize winner said.

“This wasn’t easy to write. I didn’t cope that graciously or wisely to the pressure - the only person witness to that was my wife,” he added.

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The panel, led by Doyle, discussed the six shortlisted books for over five hours, but Flesh turned out to be their favourite among all. “What we particularly liked about Flesh was its singularity. It’s just not like any other book,” he said.

“We loved the spareness of the writing. We loved how so much is revealed without us being overly aware of it being revealed. It’s just extraordinary how he uses white space. Grief is depicted by a few blank pages,” Doyle added.

What is the book about?

Flesh follows the journey of a magnetic yet emotionally distant man as he drifts through distinct stages of his life.

The narrative unfolds in separate episodes, spanning a Hungarian housing estate, the Iraq War, and the opulent circles of London’s elite, with much of the story existing in the silences and spaces between these moments, inviting readers to piece together what happens in the gaps.

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Described by the Booker organisers as “a meditation on class, power, intimacy, migration and masculinity,” the novel is praised as “a compelling portrait of one man, and the formative experiences that can reverberate across a lifetime.”

Who is Szalay?

Born in Canada, Szalay has been a resident of different places around the world. First, his family moved to Beirut, then to London, where he grew up. He then moved to Hungary before finally settling down in Austria with his wife.

He began his career as a financial advertising sales executive in London’s City, an experience that inspired his debut novel, London and the South-East, a sharp satire of the hollow ambitions and frustrations of an ad salesman’s life. The book went on to win both the Betty Trask Award and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize.

In 2013, he was selected for Granta’s prestigious list of the Best of Young British Novelists.

His 2016 novel All That Man Is, another incisive study of contemporary masculinity, earned him his first Booker Prize nomination. Though it didn’t take home the main award, it won the Gordon Burn Prize and the Plimpton Prize for Fiction.