Booker Prize 2026 longlist announced

booksJul 28, 202648923

The Booker Prize 2026 longlist of 13 novels was announced, led by previous winners Marlon James and Douglas Stuart and including Elizabeth Strout. Chair of judges Mary Beard said each title in contention for the £50,000 award “takes the reader to new places,” and the panel includes Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker. The list features authors of seven nationalities across three continents, with almost half the writers from the UK and 10 authors appearing on a Booker longlist for the first time. Three debut novelists made the longlist: Kenan Orhan, Rebecca Perry and 28-year-old Djamel White, whose debut All Them Dogs is set in west Dublin. James is longlisted for The Disappearers, his fifth novel about a homophobic mob attack in 1980s Jamaica, to be published in September, while Stuart returns with his third novel John of John. Elizabeth Strout earns a third Booker nomination for The Things We Never Say, her 11th novel that reckons with Trump’s America. A total of 163 books were submitted, all published in the UK or Ireland between 1 October 2025 and 30 September 2026.

The Booker Prizes

@thebookerprizes.com

Presenting the Booker Prize 2026 longlist. Find out more about the books and authors that make up this year's Booker Dozen: thebookerprizes.com/bp2026

The Booker Prize 2026 longlist in full:

- 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

18945d ago

Paul Connolly11

Huge congratulations to @lukekennard.bsky.social and everyone longlisted

Deborah2

Wow @lukekennard.bsky.social this is bloody fantastic! Massive congratulations 🎊 👏

Annie1

@lukekennard.bsky.social as in the lecturer from UOB? Woah. Good for him. Hope he wins.

Bluemoose Books 1

Congratulations to all the longlisted authors.

Risa1

I follow a lot (perhaps too many) booktubers, and, with a few exceptions, this is a list that defies the predictions. Well done, Chaos Agents! Here's to adding yet more books to my TBR ....

Lee Carvallo's Putting Challenge Champion1

A well regarded author and a journeyman with a 44% career 3PT Field Goal percentage? Color me impressed

Quoting this

Katie Mack173

Got all excited for a minute there 🙃

Paul Duane 🥔32

My man M John Harrison (late of Bluesky, seems to have deactivated) is nominated for a Booker! this is fantastic news. Great writer, seems like a great human too.

Darach Ó Séaghdha25

Congratulations to anyone who actually finishes writing a book, then gets published and survives the anxiety of having it misunderstood online. With that in mind, a point of personal taste: there are too many titles like "the lie she didn't tell" or "the thing that slightly happened"

Alex von Tunzelmann12

A genuinely interesting list – keen to get reading!

Subscribe to Radio Free America (link in bio)11

Things We Never Say squad, rise

Vicky MacKenzie11

Ooh! Nice one @lukekennard.bsky.social, I really need to get round to reading BLACK BAG. 📚🏆 (As usual I've read nothing from the longlist, and the only one I own is Helen of Nowhere, but I will probably read a few of them within the next 20-30 years..)

Drew Broussard10

Holy moly, this list absolutely rips. MAY WE FEED THE KING is my odds-on favorite (and my fav from this whole list) but nearly any of these would be an awesome winner. M. John Harrison is a Booker longlistee!!

Solaris Books10

Huge congratulations to M. John Harrison and our sister imprint @serpents-tail.bsky.social for THE END OF EVERYTHING's Booker nomination!

Dr Mark | 北马克 |🍉🇦🇺🇲🇾🇹🇭7

Excited! And great to see M. John Harrison listed.

💀 Cromortuary 💀6

Woah Helen of Nowhere. Also very surprising list!

NPR

@npr.org

The 2026 list includes new works from household names Douglas Stuart, Marlon James and Elizabeth Strout as well as a few debut authors. n.pr/3TkSp3y

9345d ago

Quoting this

Air Budd Dwyer4

household names here is some extreme Charlie Brown had hoes energy

Saeed Jones

@theferocity.bsky.social

My friend Marlon is once again a contender for the Booker Prize! The group chat is LIT. I’m so excited for y’all to read THE DISAPPEARERS.

10945d ago

Tricia Lockwood

@tricialockwood.bsky.social

they’re calling it the “most about dementia” booker longlist the world has ever seen

8545d ago

Maris Kreizman

@maris.bsky.social

Really happy to see a few small/indie presses represented on this list, along with some of the usual (deservedly) stalwarts. thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-l...

4345d ago

Quoting this

Michael Taeckens8

Thrilled for Douglas Stuart and Grove Press! 🎉

The Guardian

@theguardian.com

Previous winners Douglas Stuart and Marlon James lead a Brit-heavy Booker prize longlist

3945d ago

Quoting this

Melissa Jo Peltier2

Back in the day, this would’ve been a huge news day post for me on Olde Twitter. Good Times.

Serpent's Tail

@serpents-tail.bsky.social

We are over the moon to that #TheEndOfEverything by M. John Harrison is on the 2026 Booker Prize longlist! Here's what the judges said about this apocalyptic adventure: 'shimmering and oblique, it holds the reader to the surface of something very grave and deep' thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-l...

2545d ago

Coffee House Press

@coffeehousepress.bsky.social

🎉🎉🎉 Enormous congratulations to Makenna Goodman and her incredible HELEN OF NOWHERE being longlisted to The Booker Prize 2026! We're ecstatic! 🎉🎉🎉

2345d ago

Quoting this

Michael Metivier3

Fantastic news!!! (and fantastic and worthy book!!!)

Julie/a2

Love to see this for so many reasons, including that she’s making it all happen in my hometown!

Irish Literary Times

@irishlittimes.bsky.social

The judges called it “a mouthy, ballsy and bracingly unsentimental portrait of west Dublin gangland, set well off the beaten track of the city’s usual literary landmarks”. www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

2245d ago

Bert’s Books

@bertsbooks.bsky.social

The longlist for the Booker Prize 2026 has been revealed and features on it John of John by Douglas Stuart: a favourite of all of us at Bert’s Books! We have stock of all of the titles on the way, so make sure you place your order to get on the list – or why not buy a bundle of all 13?

2444d ago

TheNakedReader

@thenakedreader.bsky.social

I love that the Booker longlist announcement this year almost falls on my birthday. Surely it’s not overly indulgent for me to get all of them for my 40th, right?? (Unless someone wants to get them for me of course… 👀😜)

2745d ago

Joy Press

@joypress.bsky.social

I somehow missed the announcement that Jarvis Cocker was a Booker Prize judge and now I can't stop thinking of him as Judge Jarvis thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-l...

1844d ago

Benjamin Myers

@benjaminmyers76.bsky.social

Big congrats to M. John Harrison - just one of the very best in the business. thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-l...

1945d ago

Jonathan Coe1

Great news! But has he gone from here?

Tom Spoors1

Light remains one of the cleverest and most reread books of my long reading career. Each reading uncovers a layer of meaning and enjoyment.

Association for Scottish Literature

@asls.org.uk

Douglas Stuart’s novel JOHN OF JOHN has been longlisted for the 2026 Booker Prize “This excavation of family, violence & shame is woven through with beautiful imagistic detail, & – unexpectedly – shades of hope. We loved the rich, textural detail of the story” 💙📚 thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-l...

1445d ago

RTÉ News

@news.rte.ie

An Irish debut novelist is among the 13 writers longlisted for the 2026 Booker Prize, one of the world's leading literary awards for fiction

1445d ago

3 sources

nytimes.comBooker Prize 2026 Nominees: Marlon James, Elizabeth Strout and More theguardian.comPrevious winners Douglas Stuart and Marlon James lead a Brit-heavy Booker prize longlist npr.orgHere are the 13 books that made the Booker Prize longlist

Booker Prize 2026 longlist announcedbooks

Booker Prize 2026 longlist announced

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