Previous winners Douglas Stuart and Marlon James lead a Brit-heavy Booker prize longlist

Developed over time first seen 4 months ago

The Guardian · 4 months ago

Booker prize judges have named their 2026 longlist, with previous winners Douglas Stuart and Marlon James both featuring alongside three-time nominee Elizabeth Strout. The 13-strong selection, revealed on Tuesday and chaired by classicist Mary Beard, spans authors of seven nationalities across three continents, with almost half based in the UK, and is being praised for rewarding literary risk-taking. Ten of the 13 writers are first-time longlistees, including debut novelists Kenan Orhan, Rebecca Perry and Djamel White.

James is nominated for The Disappearers, his fifth novel, centred on a homophobic mob attack in 1980s Jamaica, having previously won the £50,000 prize in 2015 for A Brief History of Seven Killings. Stuart, who won in 2020 with Shuggie Bain, returns with his third novel, John of John; a repeat win for either would make them only the fifth author to win the Booker twice, joining JM Coetzee, Peter Carey, Hilary Mantel and Margaret Atwood. Strout picks up her third nomination for The Things We Never Say, while the list also includes potential firsts, with Mexican-British writer Chloe Aridjis and Turkish-American Kenan Orhan poised to become the first winners of their respective heritages, and 81-year-old M John Harrison the oldest nominee.

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In short

Booker prize 2026 longlist announced, featuring 13 novels.
Previous winners Douglas Stuart and Marlon James both longlisted again.
Ten of 13 authors are first-time nominees, including three debut novelists.

How this story developed

4 months ago Booker prize judges have named their 2026 longlist, with previous winners Douglas Stuart and Marlon James both featuring alongside three-time nominee Elizabeth Strout.

Explained simply

The Booker Prize is one of the world's most prestigious awards for fiction written in English, given annually to recognise the best novel of the previous year. Each October, judges announce a longlist of 13 novels from which the eventual winner will be selected, along with a shortlist that will be revealed later. This year's judging panel is chaired by classicist Mary Beard.

The longlist includes two authors who have previously won the Booker Prize and are now competing for a second victory, as well as a writer who has been nominated three times before without winning. The 13 novels come from authors based across the UK, Europe, the Americas and elsewhere, reflecting a geographically diverse selection. Notably, most of the writers on the list are being nominated for the first time, including several publishing their debut novels.

Winning the Booker Prize can significantly boost a book's sales and transform an author's career by introducing their work to a much wider audience. The prize carries substantial cultural weight and has long influenced which novels are considered important to literary history. The judging panel's selections therefore matter beyond the literary world, shaping which stories and voices gain prominence in the coming year.