Gaby Wood, Chief Executive of the Booker Prize Foundation will host the Cheltenham Literature Festival’s annual introduction to the six shortlisted books and their authors, who will join the event both in-person and virtually.  

Where: Cheltenham Literature Festival

When: 2.30pm BST on Saturday, 10 October 2026

Tickets: On sale via cheltenhamfestivals.org  

The prize’s annual shortlist readings, which feature the six authors reading from and discussing their books, are returning for the 2026 prize season and will take place on Sunday, 8 November in the Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, as part of its 75^th anniversary programme. Sara Collins, novelist, literary critic, screenwriter, broadcaster and former Booker Prize judge, will chair the event. 

Where: Southbank Centre, London

When: 7.30pm GMT on Sunday, 8 November 2026  

Tickets: On sale via southbankcentre.co.uk

The winner of the Booker Prize 2026 will be announced on Monday, 9 November at a private ceremony at Old Billingsgate, London. The winner announcement will be livestreamed and available to watch on the Booker Prizes YouTube channel between 9.30-10pm GMT.

This year, five independent bookshops across the country will be hosting official Booker Prize ceremony watch parties in their stores:

• London Review Bookshop, 7.30-10.30pm, £7, tickets available here.
• The Heath Bookshop, Birmingham, 8-10.30pm, £10, tickets available here.
• Bookmarked, Bristol, 8-10.30pm, £5, tickets available here.
• The Book Brewery, Cumbria, 7.30-10.30pm, free.
• Books Upstairs, Dublin, 7.30-10.15pm, 8€, tickets will be available via Books Upstairs Eventbrite.

If you’d like to host your own Booker Prize watch party, at home with friends, or in a local community space, head to our YouTube channel where you’ll find a Booker Prize watch party playlist to watch before tuning into the livestream on the night.