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Booker Prize 2026 Shortlist Announced: James, Stuart Among Finalists
Confirmed
In Short: The Booker Prize 2026 shortlist was announced on September 23, featuring six novels selected by a panel of judges including Rebecca Liu, Jarvis Cocker, Dame Mary Beard, Raymond Antrobus, and Patricia Lockwood.
The Booker Prize 2026 shortlist was announced on September 23, featuring six novels selected by a panel of judges including Rebecca Liu, Jarvis Cocker, Dame Mary Beard, Raymond Antrobus, and Patricia Lockwood. The selection process was described as a 'tussle' by the judges, with Patricia Lockwood noting she was 'bossier than I believed myself to be' during the deliberations.
Jamaican writer Marlon James is shortlisted for his latest novel, 'The Disappearers,' which recounts a violent attack on an all-queer theatre group in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1988 and its aftermath. Scottish author Douglas Stuart is also shortlisted for 'John of John,' a novel that has won the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize.
Both James and Stuart are previous Booker Prize winners. James won in 2015 for 'A Brief History of Seven Killings,' while Stuart won in 2020 for 'Shuggie Bain.' If either were to win again, they would join J.M. Coetzee, Hilary Mantel, and Peter Carey as the fifth author to win the prize twice.
The shortlist also includes American novelist Elizabeth Strout for her 11th novel, 'The Things We Never Say.' Strout has been shortlisted for the prize before, and her work is known for its range from the hilarious to the discomfiting, as described by Mary Beard, chair of the judging panel.
The six shortlisted authors will each receive a special bound copy of their book and a £2,500 prize. The winner, to be announced on November 9 at a ceremony in London, will receive £50,000. The prize is a significant boost to an author's career, guaranteeing a global readership and a dramatic increase in book sales.
The shortlist features a diverse range of genres, from historical fiction to dystopian fiction, and includes debut novelist Djamel White, whose novel 'All Them Dogs' did not make the final six. The shortlist also includes John Harrison, who at 81, could become the oldest winner in the prize’s history if he were to win for 'The End of Everything.
Mary Beard, chairwoman of the judges, said the novels were 'writing at its best' and offered both 'blissful escapism' and 'plenty to change the way we see the world.' The shortlist announcement was met with mixed reactions, including a humorous comment from Giles Coren, who joked about eating Mary Beard if Emma Cline's novel 'Switzy' had won the prize.
What this adds
The shortlist announcement follows a rigorous selection process from the thirteen titles on the longlist, with the judges describing the deliberations as 'a tussle.
Background
The Booker Prize 2026 judges, including Jarvis Cocker and Patricia Lockwood, have revealed the shortlist after a selection process described as 'a tussle.
What's confirmed
- James previously won the Booker Prize in 2015 for A Brief History of Seven Killings, while Stuart won in 2020 for Shuggie Bain.
What's still developing
- The other judges included former Booker Prize-shortlisted US novelist Patricia Lockwood, who said she discovered she was "bossier than I believed myself to be" when making the case for or against particular books in the judges' meetings.
- It's the author's first Booker nomination, and he'd be the oldest ever winner at 81.
- Mary Beard, chairwoman of judges, said deciding what books to choose for the shortlist was a meeting “none of the judges is likely to forget”.
- The story is told across dual timelines, following a medieval king and a modern day curator respectively, and has won the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize.
- The Booker Prize is the leading literary award in the English speaking world, and has brought recognition, reward and readership to outstanding fiction for over five decades Each year, the prize is awarded to what is, in the opinion of the judges, the best sustained work of fiction written in English and published in the UK and Ireland.
- For over 50 years, the Booker and International Booker Prize have recognised the best in contemporary fiction in the English language, showcasing the books and voices that define our times.
- Buying books via the ‘Buy the book’ links on our website helps support the charitable work of the Booker Prize Foundation.
- “Obviously [books] are born out of a desire to make good art but there’s also a savviness to that choice,” she said.