6 novels have been shortlisted for the 2026 Booker Prize. The list includes two former winners Marlon James and Douglas Stewart. In addition, there is Pulitzer-winning author Elizabeth Strout. This year's list was selected from 163 submitted books. The books were published in the UK and Ireland between 1 October 2025 and 30 September 2026.

The winner will be announced at a ceremony on November 9 at Old Billingsgate in London. Booker Shortlist: 1. M. John Harrison's 'The End of Everything' follows Philip Tennant's life on the post-apocalyptic Kent coast, set against the backdrop of societal collapse and a mysterious alien invasion.

2. Marlon James' The Disappearers is set in Jamaica in the late 1980s and depicts the murder of a gay man and its aftermath. James won the Booker Prize in 2015 for his novel A Brief History of Seven Killings. 3. Luke Kennard's 'Black Bag' is a satirical novel about an actor who attends a university class inside a large black bag as part of a psychological experiment.

4. Rebecca Perry's May We Feed the King juxtaposes the story of an unnamed medieval royal court and a modern curator curating an exhibition in a historic palace. 'May We Feed the King' is Perry's first novel and won the Waterstones Debut Fiction Award this year. 5. Elizabeth Strout's 'The Things We Never Say' is a story of loneliness and despair behind the seemingly comfortable life of a teacher in Massachusetts, USA.

Strout won the Pulitzer Prize in 2009 for the novel Olive Kitteridge. 6. Douglas Stewart's 'John of John' is a novel about John-Callum McLeod, a young artist who returns to his old life on the Isle of Harris in Scotland. Stewart won the Booker Prize in 2020 for the novel 'Shuggy Bain'.

List Highlights: The shortlist includes authors from Jamaica, England, Scotland and the United States. Marlon James and Douglas Stewart are former Booker winners. Rebecca Perry's 'May We Feed the King' is the only debut novel. M John Harrison was a member of the 2022 Booker jury.

He will be the oldest winner at the age of 81 when he receives the award. These six novels deal with themes such as identity, family, social expectations, power, privacy, loneliness and trauma. Mary Beard, president of the jury, said books can change the way readers see the world, surprise and question their own convictions.