The longlist for the 2026 Booker Prize is here. The Booker Prize honors the best work of fiction written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland annually. It began in 1969 and has become an honor that can catapult a book and an author’s career.
Five judges comprise the panel that determines the finalists for the prize. They include authors, publishers, journalists, politicians, artists, and more. This year’s panelists are poet Mary Beard, who chairs the panel; writer and educator Raymond Antrobus; musician Jarvis Cocker; journalist Rebecca Liu; and writer Patricia Lockwood.
The Booker Prize honors the best fiction by writers of any nationality written in English and published in the UK and/or Ireland between October 1, 2025, and September 30, 2026. Longlists include 12 or 13 titles–announced today and shared below–while a shortlist follows this year on September 22. Each shortlisted author receives £2,500, or about $3,300. The winner, announced November 9, will take home £50,000, or about $67,000.
This year’s longlist includes 13 titles. They come from seven countries and three continents, and in addition to two previous winners and one previous shortlisted author, there are 10 authors new to the honor. Three are also debut novelists.
Here’s the Booker Prize shortlist for 2026:
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