Today, the Booker Prize Foundation announced the six books on the 2026 Booker Prize shortlist, whittled down from the ‘Booker’s Dozen’ announced in July. The Booker is the UK’s most prestigious literary prize, which celebrates longform fiction written in English and published in the UK and/or Ireland (this year, between October 2025 and September 2026). Each of the below shortlisted authors will receive £2,500; the winner will take home £50,000, along with plenty of book sales and bragging rights.
Beard, who chairs the 2026 judging panel, explained in the announcement that they did not begin with a fixed checklist of the various kinds of book, authors, or subjects they hoped would appear among the final six.
Yet, when they surveyed the assembled lineup, arranged side by side as if they were softly glowing, they felt pleased to notice how well the selection demonstrates many strengths inherent in contemporary English-language fiction. The novels traverse a spectrum from lighthearted humor to unsettling unease, from the eerily strange to the disarmingly domestic, from the forcefully shocking to the quietly understated. Within these pages, readers encounter figures from different nations and eras, authored by writers spanning four decades, mixing fresh voices with familiar favorites.
Here’s the shortlist:
M. John Harrison, The End of Everything
Marlon James, The Disappearers
Luke Kennard, Black Bag
Rebecca Perry, May We Feed the King
Elizabeth Strout, The Things We Never Say
Douglas Stuart, John of John
This year’s judges are Mary Beard (Chair), Raymond Antrobus, Jarvis Cocker, Rebecca Liu, and Patricia Lockwood. The winner will be announced in a ceremony on November 9.
