Library: VCE English Texts: Orbital

About the book: background and context

NASA: International Space Station
NASA's website for the International Space Station. You can read information about the station and programs and watch videos.
NASA: International Space Station - Facts
A deep dive into facts and figures relating to the International Space Station, including pictures and diagrams.

NASA: What is microgravity?
Microgravity is the condition in which people or objects appear to be weightless. The effects of microgravity can be seen when astronauts and objects float in space.
NASA: Artemis
With NASA’s Artemis campaign, we are exploring the Moon for scientific discovery, technology advancement, and to learn how to live and work on another world as we prepare for human missions to Mars.
SpaceX
SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket is a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
Britannica - pastoral literature
pastoral literature, class of literature that presents the society of shepherds as free from the complexity and corruption of city life. Many of the idylls written in its name are far remote from the realities of any life, rustic or urban.

About the author

Samantha Harvey
You can read a brief biography about the author on her website. You can also read about the other books she has written.
The Booker Prizes: interview with Samantha Harvey
In this interview, the author discusses her inspiration for writing the book and influences on her writing. There is also a video of an actor reading an exert of the book.

Analysis: study guides, reviews, critical articles

The Booker Prizes: Reading Guide
A comprehensive guide, featuring insights from critics, our judges and the book’s author, as well as discussion points and suggestions for further reading.
LitCharts: Orbital Study Guide
A comprehensive study guide for Orbital, featuring an introduction, summary and analysis, including themes and quotes.
The Guardian: Orbital review
The astronauts who turn and turn through Samantha Harvey’s finely crafted meditation on the Earth, beauty and human aspiration are in the process of understanding themselves in new ways, too.

Click on the above image and register with the State Library Victoria for free access research guides and literary criticisms of current texts used in VCE English. You will need an account to access some of the following resources relating to Samantha Harvey's Orbital.

Cazajous-Augé, C. (2025). The Anthropocene Cosmic Sublime: Viewing the Earth from Space in Samantha Harvey’s “Orbital.” Ecozon@, 16(1), 97–115.
Azim, Md Samiul. ( 2025) Contours of Catastrophe: Ecological and Existential Crisis in Samantha Harvey's Orbital and Amitav Ghosh's The Living Mountain Language In India, vol. 25, no. 2, Feb., pp. 120+.
Strait, R. (2024, Dec 10). Cotton candy and the beautiful non-beauty: Samantha Harvey's Booker prize-winning novel, Orbital. University Wire