The much-anticipated Booker Prize 2026 longlist is here. This year, the 13 books – known as the Booker Dozen – are predominantly by British authors. Past winners Marlon James and Douglas Stuart feature, alongside previous shortlistee Elizabeth Strout.
The longlist has been selected by a panel chaired by the classicist Mary Beard, who said the novels “brilliantly muster the power of words to take the reader to new places, to see old places from new angles, to change minds.”
The panel also includes poet Raymond Antrobus, musician Jarvis Cocker, journalist Rebecca Loi, and Booker-shortlisted novelist Patricia Lockwood.
From dystopian sci-fi and crime thrillers to historical fiction and campus novels, the longlist transports readers around the world, from the Isle of Harris and Mexico City to Maine, the Kent seaside, Zurich and Jamaica.
The 13 authors, which include three debut novelists, explore humour, heartbreak and satire, from novella-length to doorstop books.
The six shortlisted books will be announced on Tuesday 22 September 2026, before the winner announcement on Monday 9 November 2026, when the crowned author will receive £50,000. The only requirements are that the book must be a work of long-form fiction originally written in English – but the author can be of any nationality – and published in the UK or Ireland between 1 October 2025 and 30 September 2026.
Among the most prestigious literary awards, past winners have included Hilary Mantel for Wolf Hall, Salman Rushdie for Midnight’s Children, and Arundhati Roy for The God of Small Things.
In 2025, David Szalay took home the prize for Flesh, which has since enjoyed the same mainstream success as previous recent winners Shuggie Bain (Douglas Stuart) and Orbital (Samantha Harvey). Some Booker Prize winners even get adapted for film (see The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro or Life of Pi by Yann Martel).
As per tradition, book enthusiasts will now challenge themselves to read all 13 longlisted books ahead of the ceremony in November. With the three-month countdown officially on, delve into the Booker Dozen below, and find out where to buy each book.
'Things We Can Never Say' by Elizabeth Strout, published by Viking
The American author Elizabeth Strout’s latest novel, The Things We Never Say, is a standalone story set in coastal Massachusetts during the 2024 presidential election. Artie Dam is a high school history teacher who is grappling with middle-aged ennui. Then, a brush with death and the unearthing of a decade-long secret change everything.
Buy now £13.98, Amazon.co.uk
'John of John' by Douglas Stuart, published by Picador
Douglas Stuart won the Booker Prize in 2020 with Shuggie Bain, but will his third novel bring the Scottish author similar literary glory? John of John explores his signature themes of masculinity, working-class Scottish life and family relationships; this time on the Isle of Harris. It begins with the homecoming of John-Callum, a 22-year-old art graduate who is at direct odds with his devout Protestant father John, a sheep farmer and a deacon in the small community's Presbyterian church.
Buy now £15.58, Amazon.co.uk
'The Shadow of the Object' by Chloe Aridjis, published by Chatto & Windus
Exploring magic and mortality, with praise from Zadie Smith and Deborah Levy, The Shadow of the Object follows Flora on a visit home to Mexico, where the family dog bites her hand. In hospital, she engages in a series of dream-like conversations with an elderly German patient, which continues to alter her perception of reality when back in London.
Buy now £12.97, Amazon.co.uk
'Switzy' by Emma Cline, published by Chatto & Windus
Emma Cline’s new novel Switzy tackles a difficult subject with complexity and beautiful prose. It follows an ageing man’s final journey to a clinic in Zurich, Switzerland. Travelling with notebooks to jog his degenerating mind, he stops over in London for a last supper with his estranged adult daughter and pit stops in France for a reunion with an old friend, while fleeting memories of his life invade every moment.
Buy now £18.04, Amazon.co.uk
'Helen of Nowhere ' by Makenna Goodman, published by Fitzcarraldo Editions
Helen of Nowhere by Makenna Goodman follows a disgraced literature professor known only to the reader as “man”. Disgusted by modern politics and feeling persecuted by his peers, he views a remote house with a realtor, intending to flee city life for the countryside. While learning about the mystical former owner, Helen, he grapples with his own romanticised ego, crumbling marriage and antiquated worldviews.
Buy now £12.97, Amazon.co.uk
'The End of Everything' by M. John Harrison, published by Serpent's Tail
The End of Everything by M. John Harrison introduces us to beachcomber Phillip Tennent and his artist aunt Marnie. Both reside in a post-catastrophe coastal English town. A biological discovery forces them to venture inland, where an alien-like enemy known as the iGhetti are at war with a fractured Europe.
Buy now £14.86, Amazon.co.uk
'The Disappearers' by Marlon James, published by Hamish Hamilton
Previous Booker Prize winner Marlon James has been nominated again for his latest novel, The Disappearers. Though a standalone novel, it returns to the same real-world setting of unstable 1980’s Jamaica, as reimagined in A Brief History of Seven Killings. Set for release on 1 September 2026, the novel focuses on eight gay men targeted in a brutal mob attack during a play rehearsal in late eighties Kingston.
Buy now, Waterstones.com
'Black Bag' by Luke Kennard, published by John Murray
A campus comedy, Black Bag draws inspiration from a real 1960s experiment. The novel follows an out-of-work actor who accepts work for Dr Blend, a university professor conducting a psychological experiment. The job? They’ll be zipped into an oversized bag to sit in the back of a hall during a series of autumn term lectures.
Buy now £16.96, Amazon.co.uk
'The Renovation' by Kenan Orhan, published by Hamish Hamilton
The Renovation by Kenan Orhan explores a family’s experience with exile and Alzheimers. The surrealist, political debut follows Dilara, a Turkish exile living in Italy. Her bathroom renovation has been inexplicably modelled as a prison cell – and she’s an inmate. Forcing her to confront grief, memory and migration, she reflects on caring for her aging father and hypochondriact husband.
Buy now £15.59, Amazon.co.uk
‘May We Feed the King’ by Rebecca Perry, published by Granta
A historical novel that jumps between the present day and a medieval village, May We Feed the King by Rebecca Perry follows a modern museum curator and a past monarch. As the curator works on a reconstruction of the king’s private chambers, she becomes increasingly obsessed with his story, filling in the gaps with her own imagination. In his day, the king struggles with the burdens of unexpected power.
Buy now £13.98, Amazon.co.uk
‘The Palm House’ by Gwendoline Riley, published by Picador
A slender, somber novel, The Palm House explors friendship and memory in Riley’s signature precise, understated prose. Narrated by Laura, a writer reflecting on difficult relationships and past trauma, the book captures how conversations and shared experiences shape identity.
Buy now £12.79, Amazon.co.uk
‘All Them Dogs’ by Djamel White, published by John Murray
A gripping literary crime story set in Dublin’s violent underworld, All Them Dogs follows Tony Ward, who returns home after years in exile following a gangland killing. Exploring masculinity and sexuality with the pacing of a thriller, Djamel White is a new voice in Irish fiction.
Buy now £17.55, Amazon.co.uk
'The Vivisectors’ by Missouri Williams, published by 4th Estate
Set in a university city where political conflict is rife, The Vivisectors by Missouri Williams follows Agathe, a withdrawn graduate and assistant to a professor, whose life is disrupted when she is instructed to befriend a controversial student. Exploring institutional decay, power dynamics and personal trauma, it’s a philosophical read.
Buy now £14.99, Waterstones.com
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