Discover our reading guides for the Booker Prize 2026 shortlist

Published: September 22, 2026

Whether you’re new to the shortlist or would like to explore it further, our guides are packed with insights from the author, discussion points for book clubs and suggestions for further reading

Spanning a range of genres – from dystopian fiction to contemporary realism, from campus satire to historical fiction – the shortlisted books explore what it means to be human in an ever-changing world and the communities and events that shape us. Both intimate and epic, personal and political, they provide meditations on familial bonds, identity, shame, love, loneliness, survival and the ultimate unknowability of others. They are moving, pacey, funny, violent, intriguing, horrifying and hopeful.

The shortlisted books 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

The winning book will be announced on Monday, 9 November 2026, at a ceremony at Old Billingsgate in London.

Reading guide: The End of Everything by M. John Harrison

In his Booker Prize 2026 shortlisted novel, M. John Harrison offers a panoramic view of the modern moment through the story of one poignant human relationship

Reading guide: The Disappearers by Marlon James

In his Booker Prize 2026 shortlisted novel, Marlon James offers a clear-eyed confrontation with Jamaican homophobia, which is unflinching in its honesty

Reading guide: Black Bag by Luke Kennard

In his Booker Prize 2026 shortlisted novel, Luke Kennard combines an absurd experiment with a moving story about human frailty, passion, confusion and identity

Reading guide: May We Feed the King by Rebecca Perry

In her Booker Prize 2026 shortlisted novel, Rebecca Perry moves between our present-day world and a medieval court and unsettles the idea that there’s ever one universal historical truth

Reading guide: The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout

In her Booker Prize 2026 shortlisted novel, Elizabeth Strout offers a devastating look at the dangerous cracks in family life and in the contemporary world at large

Reading guide: John of John by Douglas Stuart

In his Booker Prize 2026 shortlisted novel, Douglas Stuart transports readers to a remote Scottish island, where small-town secrets and buried shame reverberate to surprising, devastating and even joyous effect

Buy the shortlist and save over £30

Buy the Booker Prize 2026 shortlist bundle

We’re a charity partner of ethical online bookshop BookKind. You can save over £30 when you buy all six Booker Prize-shortlisted books for the special price of £79 from BookKind. Receive fast and free UK shipping; international shipping rates apply. Plus, 10% of the value of your purchase will be donated to the Booker Prize Foundation, helping fund our work to support readers and writers of the future.