The 2026 Booker Shortlist
Six novels, one prize, and the winner is named November 9. Two past winners, a three-time nominee, and three first-timers. A sentence each, then go pick your horse.
Updated October 16, 2026
A beachcomber scrapes by on the coast of Kent while the world comes apart. Post-apocalyptic, slyly funny, and properly strange. The US hardcover came out October 13.
Kingston, Jamaica, the 1980s. A man who survived a murderous homophobic attack is set on payback. James already won the Booker in 2015 with A Brief History of Seven Killings.
An out-of-work actor is paid to sit through university lectures zipped inside a black leather bag, for a psychology experiment. A warped campus novel and an off-kilter love story.
A curator gets lost in the world of a reluctant medieval monarch, whose court is full of scheming courtiers. A debut, and the US paperback is out now.
A teacher with a comfortable-looking life in coastal Massachusetts is keeping a secret. Grief across decades, deep friendship, and the relief of finally saying it. Strout's third time on a Booker list.
A young man goes home to his strict father in a Calvinist island community in the Outer Hebrides. Stuart won the Booker in 2020 with Shuggie Bain.
Quick Answers
What is on the 2026 Booker Prize shortlist?
The End of Everything by M. John Harrison, The Disappearers by Marlon James, Black Bag by Luke Kennard, May We Feed the King by Rebecca Perry, The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout, and John of John by Douglas Stuart.
When is the 2026 Booker Prize winner announced?
Monday, November 9, 2026, at a ceremony at Old Billingsgate in London. The winner gets £50,000 and each shortlisted author gets £2,500.
Who are the judges?
Mary Beard (chair), Raymond Antrobus, Jarvis Cocker, Rebecca Liu, and Patricia Lockwood. They picked the six from a longlist of 13, chosen from 163 submissions.
Which longlisted books didn't make the cut?
Seven, including three of our Weekly Reads: Switzy, Helen of Nowhere, and All Them Dogs. See our longlist picks, or browse the whole bookstore.
Source: The Booker Prizes.