Shortlist for 2026 Booker Prize revealed after judges' "tussle"

The final six contenders for this year's Booker Prize have been announced, after intense deliberation between the judges. Judge Raymond Antrobus called the collaborative process a "tussle", while Patricia Lockwood joked they wrestled like pigs in mud.

The Times columnist Giles Coren wrote that he was so confident Emma Cline's longlisted novel Switzy would win the prize, he'd "eat Mary Beard" if it didn't. Following the announcement of the shortlist, which does not include it, Beard joked, "Well, I'm going to get the cooker prepared and ask him how he wants me done."

Narrowed down from the thirteen titles on the longlist, they are as follows:

The Disappearers by Marlon James recounts a violent attack on an all-queer theatre group in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1988, and its fallout. The deadly assault likely occured during the Jamaican author's childhood, but its details remain unconfirmed as the victims never spoke out.

John of John by Douglas Stuart also centres the issue of homophobia, but in a vastly different setting. In the late 90s, John, a gay fashion student, returns to his hometown on the Isle of Harris, where he clashes with his religious father, also named John.

James and Stuart have previously won Booker Prizes; James for A Brief History of Seven Killings in 2015, Stuart for Shuggie Bain in 2020.

A post-apocalyptic novel, The End of Everything by M. John Harrison is set in a future England ravaged by monstrous, mysterious creatures called iGhetti. Protagonist Philip lives with his aunt in a coastal town, beachcombing until he finds an object which, for unexplained reasons, could change their lives.

Black Bag by Luke Kennard is a satire about an actor who, unable to find work, agrees to take part in a psychological experiment that sees him attend university lectures clothed only in a black leather bag.

May We Feed the King is Rebecca Perry's debut novel, about a museum curator's discoveries about the ambivalent king whose tables she is tasked with preparing for exhibition.

The protagonist of The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout is a history teacher from New England who, in the leadup to the 2024 presidential elections, feels isolated from his family and alienated by the political climate.

Irish longlister All Them Dogs by Djamel White did not make the cut.

This year's judges are Rebecca Liu, an editor for the Guardian; Jarvis Cocker, frontman of rock band Pulp and BBC Radio 6Music presenter; Mary Beard, a classicist and author of over twenty historical books and articles; Raymond Antrobus, a deaf spoken-word poet and author; and Patricia Lockwood, a poet and novelist.

Antrobus said the common factor among the final choices is that these books, "as well as having heart, also took risk".

"These books, we truly believe, cannot be replicated by artificial intelligence. These are very human books for the way they talk about and navigate a lived experience."

Mary Beard said, "English language fiction now is full of talent – talent old and talent new. It's full of wit, seriousness, pleasure, challenge, discomfort and real brilliance, and I think we should be rewarding our novelists a lot more than we do."

The winner of the Booker Prize, which is worth 50,000 pounds, will be announced on November 9.