The six-title shortlist has been released for the 2026 Booker Prize for Fiction. The winner, who will be named on November 9 in London, receives £50,000 (about $66,720). Each of the finalists gets £2,500 (about $3,336). This year's shortlisted titles are:
The End of Everything by M. John Harrison
The Disappearers by Marlon James
Black Bag by Luke Kennard
May We Feed the King by Rebecca Perry
The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout
John of John by Douglas Stuart
Chair of judges Mary Beard said the finalists "range from the hilarious to the discomfiting, from the frighteningly strange to the alarmingly domestic, from the powerfully shocking to the intriguingly understated. In them, we meet characters from different countries and different centuries, created by authors 40 years apart, new talent and well-known favorites.
"This is writing at its best. There's plenty to enjoy, some blissful escapism and prose to die for ('I just wish I could have written that' kept going through my mind). But there is also plenty here to change the way we see the world, to surprise us and to challenge our certainties."
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Winners have been chosen for the 2026 Wainwright Prize, celebrating nature and the environment, nurturing respect for the planet, and informing readers of the threats that the earth currently faces. Jackie Morris & Robert Macfarlane's The Book of Birds won the Wainwright Prize Book of the Year, with Thomas Halliday and Gavin Scott taking the Children's Wainwright Prize Book of the Year for Otherlands: An Illustrated Journey Through Earth's Lost Worlds. The 2026 Wainwright Prize category winners are:
Nature Writing: Ancient: Reviving the Woods that Made Britain by Luke Barley
Conservation Writing: The Savage Landscape by Cal Flyn
Illustrative Books: The Book of Birds by Jackie Morris & Robert Macfarlane
Children's Fiction: The Danger of Small Things by Caryl Lewis
Children's Nonfiction: Otherlands: An Illustrated Journey Through Earth's Lost Worlds by Thomas Halliday, illustrated by Gavin Scott
Children's Picture Books: The Great Bear by Annie Booker
The two overall winning books received £2,500 (about $3,330), with the picture book award jointly shared by author and illustrator. Category winners were each awarded £500 (about $666) per book.
The Wainwright Prize director Alastair Giles said: "Warmest congratulations to all our longlisted, shortlisted, and winning authors and illustrators. This year's entries once again show just how vital and vibrant nature and conservation writing has become, not only as a form of creative expression, but as a force for change. As environmental and social challenges grow ever more urgent, it's inspiring to see writers using their voices to deepen our connection with the natural world. The Wainwright Prize continues to champion those who remind us that storytelling can be a powerful step towards awareness, action, and ultimately, hope."