The Booker Prize longlist for 2026 has been announced, featuring 13 novels from authors including Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout and previous Booker winners Douglas Stuart and Marlon James. Judging chair Mary Beard described the selection as "dynamite" with "something for everyone", while notable names such as Maggie O'Farrell, Ann Patchett, Deborah Levy and Julian Barnes failed to make the cut despite predictions.

Chosen from 163 submissions, the "Booker Dozen" spans settings from a remote Scottish island and 1980s Jamaica to a Zurich assisted-suicide clinic and pre-election Massachusetts. Three longlisted authors are former shortlistees, including Strout for The Things We Never Say, Stuart for John of John, and James for The Disappearers, the longest book at 600 pages; the shortest, Makenna Goodman's Helen of Nowhere, runs to 140 pages. Rebecca Perry, recent winner of the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize, also features with May We Feed The King. The list will be cut to six shortlisted authors, each receiving £2,500, on 22 September, with the £50,000 winner announced on 9 November.