The shortlist of six novels has been selected by the 2026 judging panel: Mary Beard, Raymond Antrobus, Jarvis Cocker, Rebecca Liu, and Patricia Lockwood. This year’s selection spans dystopian fiction, campus satire, historical fiction and contemporary realism. From a beachcomber on the coast of Kent to a survivor of a homophobic attack in 1980s Jamaica, from a reluctant medieval monarch to a teacher harbouring a dark secret in coastal Massachusetts — these are six books that are moving, funny, violent, intriguing and hopeful in equal measure.
The list features previous Booker winners Marlon James and Douglas Stuart alongside three-time nominee Elizabeth Strout, plus three authors making their first appearance on the shortlist. The winner will be announced on 9 November 2026 at a ceremony in London.
The shortlisted books are:
- 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
- John of John by Douglas Stuart
Mary Beard, Chair of the Booker Prize 2026 judges, said:
‘These novels range from the hilarious to the discomfiting, from the frighteningly strange to the alarmingly domestic, from the powerfully shocking to the intriguingly understated. In them, we meet characters from different countries and different centuries, created by authors 40 years apart, new talent and well-known favourites. This is writing at its best. There’s plenty to enjoy, some blissful escapism and prose to die for (‘I just wish I could have written that’ kept going through my mind). But there is also plenty here to change the way we see the world, to surprise us and to challenge our certainties.’