I was away in Italy when the 2026 Booker shortlist was revealed last week but I did my own little reveal video beside the Mediterranean and I’m absolutely thrilled with the six the judges have chosen. Having read the whole longlist and made both a wish list and a predictions list, I’m delighted that four of the six books from my wish list made the actual shortlist. I’d braced myself to see Gwendoline Riley’s “The Palm House” and “Helen of Nowhere” make the cut, so I’m quietly delighted neither did. It’s a strong, satisfying group: two former winners in Marlon James and Douglas Stuart, a returning Elizabeth Strout, and three writers shortlisted for the first time.
“The Disappearers” by Marlon James left me reeling, and I’m still not done thinking about it. It’s a monumental, emotionally striking novel about a group of gay men in 1980s Kingston who come together to stage a play, and the murderous homophobic attack and cycle of revenge that engulf them; James even takes us inside the attackers’ minds, and the effect is devastating. Douglas Stuart’s “John of John” is a beloved, heart-wrenching, atmospheric book about three generations on a remote Scottish island reckoning with buried secrets, sexuality and community — I’d joked there would be rioting if it weren’t listed, so I’m hugely relieved it’s here, and I’d love to see it win Stuart a second trophy. Elizabeth Strout’s “The Things We Never Say” follows Artie Dam, an ageing teacher wrestling with mortality and a long-held marital secret; it’s the most overtly political book she’s ever written, and I’ve loved it enough to buy multiple copies as gifts.
Luke Kennard’s “Black Bag” delighted and surprised me more than anything else on the list — a genuinely funny, cleverly built campus novel about an out-of-work actor paid to quietly sit through lectures zipped inside a bag — and comedy this sharp is rare on a Booker shortlist; I was also lucky enough to record an extensive interview with Kennard about the novel, which I’d urge you to watch, and in which we discuss the possibility of his wearing a black bag to the Booker ceremony. Rebecca Perry’s debut “May We Feed the King” enchanted me, moving between the present and a medieval court as a curator builds an exhibit around an almost-forgotten, reluctant king; it’s an inventive new approach to historical fiction and a thoroughly deserving Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize winner. And M. John Harrison’s “The End of Everything” was the genuine surprise of the six — a strange, singular dystopia that isn’t quite sci-fi and refuses to explain itself — but its mood, of us quietly surrendering our agency to the technology we’ve built, is one I connected with completely.
Not everything I loved survived: I’m genuinely disappointed that Kenan Orhan’s “The Renovation” and Emma Cline’s “Switzy,” two of my very favourites from the longlist, didn’t get through. But this is a rich and varied shortlist, and the storylines ahead are irresistible — if Harrison wins at 81 he’d be the oldest winner in the prize’s history, if Perry wins she’d be the first debut winner since Stuart in 2020, and either James or Stuart could become only the fifth author to take the prize twice. The winner is announced on November 9th, and I honestly can’t call it from this group — which is exactly what I’ll be debating in future videos. I may not have time to reread all six books before then but I’d be glad to re-experience all these books.
