Actor stills from the International Booker Prize 2026 shortlist films, © Booker Prize Foundation, from L-R: Toheeb Jimoh, Indira Varma, Xelia Mendes-Jones, Kae Alexander, Toby Jones and Jehnny Beth

Toby Jones, Indira Varma and Toheeb Jimoh among cast for International Booker Prize 2026 films

The cast of actors who star in the shortlist films for the International Booker Prize 2026 supported by Bukhman Philanthropies has been revealed

Published 14 April 2026 - 14:00 BST

The six actors have been revealed in a trailer for the highly anticipated series of short films, which has today been posted on the Booker Prizes’ social media channels.

This year the International Booker Prize is celebrating 10 years in its current form, in which time it has become the world’s most influential award for translated fiction.

The new films showcase the six books shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2026. The line-up of critically acclaimed actors from film, television, stage and music who perform extracts from the nominated titles are: Japanese-born actor Kae Alexander (Black Bag, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, Fleabag); French-born musician – former frontwoman of Savages – and actor Jehnny Beth (An Impossible Love, Anatomy of a Fall, Hostage); actor Toheeb Jimoh (Ted Lasso, Industry, The Power); BAFTA- and Olivier Award-winning actor Toby Jones (Infamous, Mr Bates vs The Post Office, Detectorists); actor Xelia Mendes-Jones (Fallout, Havoc, The Wheel of Time); and Olivier Award-winning actor Indira Varma (The Other Bennet Sister, The Night Manager, Game of Thrones).

The films will be released on Thursday, 16 April 2026. They will also be shown at a 10^th anniversary celebration event for the International Booker Prize at the Southbank Centre on 8 May — featuring Dua Lipa, 2021 winning author David Diop and 2025 winning translator Deepa Bhasthi among others.

The films are directed by Holly Blakey, whose work as a director and choreographer has included collaborations with fashion houses and music artists such as Burberry, Dior, Gucci, Rosalia, Yves Tumor and Florence and the Machine. For the first time, the actors have been costumed by one designer – the cast are dressed in a mixture of vintage and contemporary Vivienne Westwood – and feature original music composed by Gwilym Gold, as well as elements of dance, choreographed for the films by Holly Blakey.

The films were shot in architecturally striking locations across the Southbank Centre’s iconic site in London, including the Purcell Room and the National Poetry Library. The Booker Prize Foundation has a long association with the Southbank Centre, which celebrates its 75^th anniversary this year, and has hosted numerous official live events for the Booker Prizes. In addition to the International Booker Prize 10^th anniversary event on 8 May, the Southbank Centre will host the Booker Prize 2026 shortlist announcement on 22 September.

The six International Booker Prize 2026 shortlisted books and the performers reading the extracts are as follows:

The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran by Shida Bazyar translated from German by Ruth Martin – read by Toheeb Jimoh
She Who Remains by Rene Karabash translated from Bulgarian by Izidora Angel – read by Jehnny Beth
The Director by Daniel Kehlmann translated from German by Ross Benjamin – read by Toby Jones
On Earth As It Is Beneath by Ana Paula Maia translated from Portuguese by Padma Viswanathan – read by Xelia Mendes-Jones 
The Witch by Marie NDiaye translated from French by Jordan Stump – read by Indira Varma 
Taiwan Travelogue by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ translated from Mandarin Chinese by Lin King – read by Kae Alexander

The International Booker Prize 2026 shortlist
*© India Hobson for Booker Prize Foundation*

The winner of the International Booker Prize 2026 will be announced at a ceremony on Tuesday, 19 May at Tate Modern, London.

Since 2022, the Booker Prize Foundation has commissioned a range of talented directors to create a series of short films to showcase the books shortlisted for its annual prizes. The films, released in spring and autumn, have become one of the highlights of the Booker Prize and International Booker Prize seasons, with the 2025 films viewed online more than 100 million times on the Booker Prizes social channels. The films produced for the Booker Prize 2025, directed by Sasha Nathwani, have been shortlisted for the Webby Awards – which recognise excellence on the internet – and the Brand Film Awards presented by Campaign and PRWeek. These nominations mark the third time the films have been recognised by the marketing industry – the Booker Prize 2022 shortlist films, directed by Kevin Thomas, won the Culture category of The Drum Awards for Marketing EMEA 2023.

Previous featured performers include: Stormzy, Dua Lipa, David Harewood, Will Poulter, Arlo Parks, Rory Kinnear, Jason Isaacs, David Jonsson, Anna Friel, Jarvis Cocker, Eleanor Tomlinson, Michelle de Swarte, Caitriona Balfe, Adelayo Adedayo, Paterson Joseph, Aisling Bea, Alfred Enoch, Adjoa Andoh, Tobias Menzies, Tanya Reynolds, Ambika Mod, Omari Douglas, Lucy Boynton and Peter Serafinowicz. 

Holly Blakey, director of the International Booker Prize 2026 shortlist films, says:

‘It has been a joy to work on these films, immersing myself in the ideas within the texts and searching for new homes for the words to live in. I wanted to place the actors in the often unseen corners of the Southbank Centre, my performance home, where so much unfolds quietly, without an audience, I guess akin to reading… still but somehow also stirring.’

Gaby Wood, Chief Executive of the Booker Prize Foundation, says:

‘It’s four years since we first produced a series of shorts featuring high-profile performers, with the aim of engaging readers with great fiction. Each year these videos, which we think of as film trailers for books, have amassed millions of views online and led countless more people to read the shortlisted books for the Booker Prizes.

‘In that time, we’ve been lucky enough to work with leading talent of the screen, stage and music world, and forged inspiring creative partnerships with innovative directors and production teams. For the International Booker Prize 2026 supported by Bukhman Philanthropies, we’re grateful to our long-term event partner, the Southbank Centre, for allowing us to shoot the films in a series of locations within its iconic London venue, and to Vivienne Westwood, who have costumed our stellar cast in clothes from their archive and contemporary collections.

‘Director Holly Blakey brings her remarkable sensibilities to the direction and has drawn together an exceptional creative team. Original scores from Gywilm Gold beautifully soundtrack each film. They are produced for the first time by Park Pictures alongside our award-nominated in-house digital content team. I can’t wait to see how they are received and hope they entice scores more people to pick up the shortlist.’

Gaby Wood at the International Booker Prize 2025 ceremony — Gaby Wood, Chief Executive of the Booker Prize Foundation, at the International Booker Prize 2025 ceremony
*© David Parry for the Booker Prize Foundation*

The films are produced for the Booker Prize Foundation by Park Pictures, whose work spans commercial projects – with clients such as Apple, Google, Nike and Adidas – to critically-acclaimed feature films and documentaries, including Oscars and BAFTA nominated The Perfect Neighbour, Sundance award-winner Daughters and BAFTA award-winner Earth Mama.

The shortlist films are part of a tradition of Booker Prize screen adaptations. More than 70 books that have been longlisted or shortlisted for the Booker or International Booker Prize have been adapted for the big or small screen over the years, with several going on to win Oscars, BAFTAs and Emmys. They range from The Remains of the Day to Atonement, Normal People to The Handmaid’s Tale, Wolf Hall to Life of Pi, True History of the Kelly Gang to The Line of Beauty, The Underground Railroad to Small Things Like These, Hurricane Season to Elena Knows, and in the last year, The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Harvest, and Hot Milk.

More about the International Booker Prize 2026 shortlist

The shortlist of six books was announced on Tuesday, 31 March 2026 and was selected by the 2026 judging panel, chaired by award-winning author Natasha Brown. Brown is joined by writer, broadcaster and Oxford University Professor of Mathematics and for the Public Understanding of Science Marcus du Sautoy; International Booker Prize-shortlisted translator Sophie Hughes; writer, Lolwe editor and bookseller Troy Onyango; and award-winning novelist and columnist Nilanjana S. Roy.

Encapsulating a range of international experiences, with many drawing on real moments from history as inspiration, the six books transport readers from Japan-ruled Taiwan in the 1930s to Nazi-controlled Europe during the Second World War, from magic and domesticity in France in the 1990s to the turmoil and after-effects of the Iranian Revolution in 1979, from a brutal prison colony in a remote corner of Brazil to a strict patriarchal community in the Albanian Alps.

Richly realised characters are captured in the shortlist, including a suburban witch, a morally compromised filmmaker, a bloodthirsty prison warden, a sworn virgin with a new identity, a young novelist and her interpreter who share a passion for food, and a multigenerational family of Iranian emigrants.

Further reading: ‘Everything you need to know about the shortlist’

The shortlist celebrates the best works of long-form fiction or collections of short stories translated into English and published in the UK and/or Ireland between 1 May 2025 and 30 April 2026. The longlist of 13 books was announced on Tuesday, 24 February 2026 and was selected by the panel from 128 books submitted by publishers.

The International Booker Prize recognises the vital work of translation, with the £50,000 prize money divided equally between the winning author and translator/s. Each shortlisted title is awarded a prize of £5,000: £2,500 for the author and £2,500 for the translator.

This year marks 10 years since the announcement of the first winner of the International Booker Prize in its current form; The Vegetarian by Han Kang, translated from Korean by Deborah Smith was awarded the inaugural prize in 2016.