Booker Prize 2026 Shortlist Announced

Booker Prize 2026 Shortlist

1. The End of Everything by M. John Harrison
2. The Disappearers by Marlon James
3. Black Bag by Luke Kennard
4. May We Feed the King by Rebecca Perry
5. The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout
6. John of John by Douglas Stuart

1. The End of Everything by M. John Harrison

M. John Harrison’s post-apocalyptic novel follows Phillip Tennant, a scavenger living with his aunt on the Kent coast after the collapse of society and amid the mystery of an alien invasion. Blending dystopian fiction with elements of thriller, mystery, satire and road novel, the book explores survival and the limits of human understanding.

2. The Disappearers by Marlon James

Set in Kingston, Jamaica, in the late 1980s, The Disappearers centres on the murder of a gay man who is also an actor rehearsing for a play, and the consequences that follow. The novel marks Marlon James’s return to Jamaica after his Booker-winning A Brief History of Seven Killings, exploring violence, identity and the compromises people make to survive.

3. Black Bag by Luke Kennard

Inspired by a real psychological experiment from the 1960s, Black Bag follows a struggling actor who agrees to spend a university term inside a large black leather bag while attending lectures, as part of an experiment observing how other students respond. Part campus satire and part unconventional love story, the novel examines masculinity, identity and human vulnerability.

4. May We Feed the King by Rebecca Perry

Rebecca Perry’s debut novel moves between an unnamed medieval court and the present day, where a curator works on displays in a historic palace. At its centre is a reluctant monarch and a meditation on power, history and storytelling, questioning how historical narratives are constructed and whose version of the past survives.

5. The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout

Set in coastal Massachusetts in the period leading up to the 2024 US election, Elizabeth Strout’s novel follows Artie Dam, a teacher whose seemingly comfortable life conceals a growing sense of isolation and despair. The novel explores grief, friendship, loneliness and the secrets people carry, while placing its intimate story against a politically divided contemporary America.

6. John of John by Douglas Stuart

Douglas Stuart’s John of John follows John-Calum MacLeod, a young art graduate who reluctantly returns to his home on the Isle of Harris in the 1990s. Against the backdrop of a remote, deeply religious community, the novel explores the complicated bonds between fathers and sons, family expectations, buried shame and the secrets of small-town life.

A Shortlist About Identity, Isolation and Belonging

Despite their differences in setting and genre, the six novels share several recurring concerns. The Booker Prize Foundation highlights identity, family, community, secrecy, isolation and the weight of expectations as themes connecting the shortlisted works. The books also move between historical and contemporary settings, while several explore the ways people struggle to understand themselves and one another.

The six shortlisted authors now enter the final stage of the Booker Prize 2026, with each shortlisted writer receiving £2,500. The winner, who will receive the £50,000 prize, will be announced on 9 November 2026 at a ceremony at Old Billingsgate in London.