Overview of the 2026 Booker Prize Longlist

The Booker Prize longlist for 2026 was revealed on Tuesday, showcasing 13 diverse books across a variety of genres. This selection features genres such as thriller, dystopian science fiction, and love stories.

Notably, the list includes two previous Booker Prize winners. Douglas Stuart, recognized for his novel Shuggie Bain in 2020, and Marlon James, awarded for A Brief History of Seven Killings in 2015, have made the longlist once more. Elizabeth Strout is nominated for the third time with her new work, The Things We Never Say. Additionally, three debut authors have been included in this year’s lineup.

Mary Beard, chair of the Booker Prize 2026 judges, remarked, “Every writer on our longlist brilliantly musters the power of words on the page to take the reader to new places, to see old places from new angles, to change minds.”

The Booker Prize is an annual award given to an author for a book published in English in the U.K. and/or Ireland between October 1 and September 30. Last year’s award in 2025 was given to David Szalay for his book Flesh.

Of the authors on the longlist, six will be shortlisted, each receiving £2,500, equivalent to about $3,300. The final winner, to be announced on November 9 at a ceremony in London, will receive £50,000, or just over $66,000.

Here is the complete 2026 Booker Prize longlist:

• The Shadow of the Object by Chloe Aridjis
• Switzy by Emma Cline
• Helen of Nowhere by Makenna Goodman
• The End of Everything by M. John Harrison
• The Disappearers by Marlon James
• Black Bag by Luke Kennard
• The Renovation by Kenan Orhan
• May We Feed the King by Rebecca Perry
• The Palm House by Gwendoline Riley
• The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout
• John of John by Douglas Stuart
• All Them Dogs by Djamel White
• The Vivisectors by Missouri Williams