Booker Prize 2026 shortlist announced with two former winners

The 2026 Booker Prize shortlist was announced on Tuesday evening at an event in central London, placing former winners Marlon James and Douglas Stuart back in contention alongside four other authors. The six finalists were selected from a longlist of 13 novels, itself drawn from 163 submissions. The shortlist comprises 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. James, who won in 2015 for A Brief History of Seven Killings, is nominated for a 640-page novel centring on a violent attack on gay men rehearsing a play in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1988. Stuart won in 2020 for Shuggie Bain and returns with John of John, set in the Outer Hebrides. Should either win, they would become the fifth author to take the prize twice. Harrison, 81, would become the oldest winner in the prize's history if successful with The End of Everything, a postapocalyptic novel and his first nomination. The record is currently held by Margaret Atwood, who was 79 when she won in 2019.