Keeping tradition 13 books have been longlisted for The Booker Prize. © Yuki Sugiura for Booker Prize Foundation.The highly anticipated Booker Prize 2026 longlist was announced on Tuesday. The list, which comprises 13 books, includes two former winners— Marlon James and Douglas Stuart—three-time nominee Elizabeth Strout, and 10 first-time nominees, of which three are debut novelists.Celebrated classicist and broadcaster Mary Beard chaired this year’s judging panel, which included the poet Raymond Antrobus, musician Jarvis Cocker, journalist Rebecca Liu, and Booker-shortlisted novelist Patricia Lockwood. The panel selected the longlist from 163 submissions, all works of long-form fiction written in English and published in the UK or Ireland between 1 October 2025 and 30 September 2026.A Reckoning in Jamaica, a Return to the HebridesJames, who won the prize in 2015 for A Brief History of Seven Killings, returns with The Disappearers (Hamish Hamilton), his first non-fantasy novel since that victory. Set in late-1980s Kingston, the novel follows eight gay men who become the targets of a brutal homophobic mob attack during a play rehearsal. The judges called it “a reckoning” from “a singular literary talent,” saying that it examines “territory Caribbean literature has rarely dared to occupy.” At roughly 600 pages, it is the longest book on this year’s list.Stuart, who won in 2020 for his debut Shuggie Bain, appears for John of John (Picador). The novel follows a young gay man, Cal, who returns to his childhood home on the Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides, where he finds himself caught between his devout father John and his Glaswegian grandmother Ella. The judges praised the novel’s “rich, textural detail” and its “excavation of family, violence, and shame.”Strout, a Pulitzer Prize winner, receives her third Booker nomination for The Things We Never Say, which introduces new characters to her fictional universe, where a fiftysomething Massachusetts high school teacher grappling with isolation, post-pandemic social anxiety, and the approaching 2024 U S election.From Zurich to the post-apocalyptic Kent CoastThe longlist also features Emma Cline’s Switzy (Chatto & Windus), a novel that follows a retired business executive with dementia as he journeys toward a medically assisted death in Zurich. The judges described it as “immersive, elegiac, and very real.”M John Harrison’s The End of Everything (Serpent’s Tail) offers a slyly satirical post-apocalyptic vision set on the Kent coast, which the judges called “a book not just about everything but about now.” Gwendoline Riley, long admired for her spare and unsparing prose, appears for The Palm House (Picador), a novel of enduring friendship set against the precarity of London life. The judges praised it as “minimalist, precise, and indelible.”Story continues below this adThree debut novelists appear on the list: Kenan Orhan for The Renovation (Hamish Hamilton), a surreal tale in which a Turkish exile’s home renovation produces an unexpected prison cell; Rebecca Perry for May We Feed the King (Granta), which dances between the life of a medieval king and a museum curator in the present day; and Djamel White for All Them Dogs (John Murray), a gritty West Dublin gangland novel that the judges called “mouthy, ballsy and bracingly unsentimental.”A list that “rewards risk”The full longlist is rounded out by Chloe Aridjis’s The Shadow of the Object (Chatto & Windus), Makenna Goodman’s Helen of Nowhere (Fitzcarraldo Editions), Luke Kennard’s Black Bag (John Murray), and Missouri Williams’s The Vivisectors (4th Estate).“I would not be telling the truth if I said that I hadn’t occasionally felt daunted, as a new box of 30 or so gleaming volumes landed on my doorstep,” Beard said of the judging process. “But what I shall most remember is the eye-opening pleasure of it all, and what I learnt about reading and the power of fiction from my fellow judges.”“Great books have never been written to a single formula,” Beard added. “We are confident that our longlist of books has something for everyone. There’s the funny and the unsettling (and in some cases the funny and unsettling); there’s dystopian fantasy and domestic drama; there’s the gritty and the magically mysterious.”Story continues below this adGaby Wood, Chief Executive of the Booker Prize Foundation, said the judges’ “range of tastes” and “openness of mind” had produced a list that “shows how capacious an art form the novel is” and “rewards risk.”The shortlist of six books will be announced at a public event at the Southbank Centre, London, on Tuesday, 22 September 2026. The winner will be announced at a ceremony at Old Billingsgate in London on Monday, 9 November 2026, and will receive £50,000; each shortlisted author will receive £2,500.The Booker Prize 2026 longlist The Shadow of the Object by Chloe Aridjis (Chatto & Windus) Switzy by Emma Cline (Chatto & Windus) Helen of Nowhere by Makenna Goodman (Fitzcarraldo Editions) The End of Everything by M John Harrison (Serpent’s Tail) The Disappearers by Marlon James (Hamish Hamilton) Black Bag by Luke Kennard (John Murray) The Renovation by Kenan Orhan (Hamish Hamilton) May We Feed the King by Rebecca Perry (Granta)The Palm House by Gwendoline Riley (Picador) The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout (Picador) John of John by Douglas Stuart (Picador) All Them Dogs by Djamel White (John Murray) The Vivisectors by Missouri Williams (4th Estate)Aishwarya Khosla is a senior editorial figure at The Indian Express, where she spearheads the digital strategy and execution for the Books & Literature and Puzzles & Games sections. With over eight years of experience in high-stakes journalism, Aishwarya specializes in literary criticism, cultural commentary, and long-form features that explore the complex intersection of identity, politics, and social change. Aishwarya’s analytical depth is anchored by her prestigious Nehru Fellowship in Politics and Elections. This intensive research fellowship in policy analysis and political communications informs her nuanced approach to cultural journalism, allowing her to provide readers with unique insights into how literature and media reflect broader political shifts. As a trusted voice for the Indian Express audience, she authors the popular newsletters, Meanwhile, Back Home and Books 'n' Bits, and hosts the podcast series, Casually Obsessed. Before her current role, Aishwarya spent several years at Hindustan Times, where she provided dedicated coverage of the Punjabi diaspora, theater, and national politics. Her career is defined by a commitment to intellectual rigor, making her a definitive authority on modern Indian culture and letters. Areas of Expertise Literary Criticism, Cultural Politics, Political Strategy, Long-form Investigative Features, and Newsletter Curation. Write to her You can reach her at aishwaryakhosla.ak@gmail.com or aishwarya.khosla@indianexpress.com. You can follow her on Instagram: @aishwarya.khosla, and X: @KhoslaAishwarya. Her stories can be read here. ... Read More Tags:Booker