The shortlist for the Man Booker Prize for Literature has been announced in the UK. It includes 13 works selected from a field of 163 novels written in English and published in the UK and Ireland between October 1, 2025, and September 30, 2026, according to a press release from the organizers.
The nominees include John, Son of John by Douglas Stewart, The Vanishing Things by Marlon James, Things We Never Talk About by Elizabeth Strout, The Shadow of an Object by Chloe Aridhis, Switzerland by Emma Cline, The End of Everything by Michael John Harrison, and Elena of Nowhere by Makenna Goodman.
Also on the long list were Luke Kennard’s Black Bag, Kenan Orhan’s Renovation, Rebecca Perry’s Can We Feed the King, Gwendolyn Riley’s The Palm House, Jamel Whitey’s All These Dogs, and Missouri Williams’ The Vivisectionists.
As jury chair Mary Beard noted, the longlist included works across a wide range of genres, from family drama to dystopian fantasy. She said some books will delight readers, while others may shock them.
The Booker Prize is the most prestigious award in English-language literature. It has been awarded since 2005. Until 2015, it was awarded biennially, and then annually.
On July 2, it was announced that the Booker Prize would be named after Vologda billionaires Igor and Dmitry Bukhman following a funding agreement. The brothers are co-founders of Bukhman Philanthropies, which has committed to funding the prize for the next 10 years. The prize fund, according to the organizers, will be doubled to 100,000 pounds.
