Two former Booker winners return to the shortlist, alongside a Pulitzer laureate
Marlon James and Douglas Stuart, who each won the Booker prize in previous years, are back in contention this year, joined by Elizabeth Strout, M John Harrison and two lesser-known names.
The Booker Prize Foundation has announced its six-book shortlist for 2026, narrowed from the longlist known as the 'Booker's Dozen' announced in July, according to Literary Hub. Among the six are two previous winners of the £50,000 prize: Marlon James, who won in 2015 for A Brief History of Seven Killings, and Douglas Stuart, a past winner as well, according to the Guardian.
James is shortlisted for The Disappearers, a novel set in Aids-era Jamaica centred on an attack on a group of queer men rehearsing John Herbert's prison-set play Fortune and Men's Eyes. At 640 pages, the Guardian notes it is the longest book on the list. Stuart is nominated for John of John, according to the New York Times, which points out that a win for either author would mark a rare second Booker for the same writer.
The rest of the shortlist includes Pulitzer winner Elizabeth Strout and prominent British speculative-fiction writer M John Harrison, alongside novelist and poet Luke Kennard and debut novelist Rebecca Perry, per the Guardian.
The winner will be announced on Monday, 9 November.
Sources
This article was written from these reports.
