Read Britannia! UK dominate the Booker Prize shortlist

See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source Published: 18:36 EDT, 22 September 2026 | Updated: 18:41 EDT, 22 September 2026 It's a new chapter for British authors – at least in the Booker Prize judges' book. For Britons dominate the shortlist of this year's prestigious award, with four of the six novels hailing from UK writers.English author M John Harrison, 81, will become the oldest winner in the prize's 57-year history if his sci-fi epic The End Of Everything scoops the prize.Other British offerings include May We Feed The King, the historic debut from former trampolinist Rebecca Perry, and Black Bag, a satirical campus novel from Luke Kennard. Scottish writer Douglas Stuart, who won the Booker in 2020, has also been shortlisted for John of John.They will go up against The Things We Never Say by American author Elizabeth Strout and The Disappearers by Jamaican writer Marlon James.It marks a return to the dominance of British authors on the shortlist after last year saw half of the six spots taken up by American writers.While it was Hungarian-British author David Szalay who ultimately won last year's £50,000 award for his novel Flesh, US authors Susan Choi, Katie Kitamura and Ben Markovits were all shortlisted.And this year a judging panel chaired by Dame Mary Beard and including Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker and author Patricia Lockwood picked the British-heavy shortlist, announced at a ceremony at the Southbank Centre last night [TUES].'We did not start out with a checklist of the different types of book we wanted to see represented in the final six, or the kinds of authors or subject matter,' said Dame Mary. Britons dominate the shortlist of this year's prestigious award, with four of the six novels hailing from UK writers. Pictured: The Booker Prize 2026 shortlist'But when we looked at the lineup of our shortlist, neatly propped up against one another, almost glowing, we were happy that we had showcased many of the strengths of contemporary English language fiction.She said the novel range from 'the hilarious to the discomfiting' and 'the frighteningly strange to the alarmingly domestic'.The Booker Prize, which has been running since 1969, was historically only open to works by authors from the Commonwealth, Republic of Ireland or Zimbabwe.In 2013 organisers changed the rules and opened it up to any work written in the English language and published in the UK and Ireland.There have been a number of years when US authors have dominated the shortlist, including 2020 and 2021, as well as last year.While it's a strong year for British authors, there are fewer women than usual on the shortlist - just two out of the six.It is just the second time in ten years that there are more male than female authors on the shortlist.The winner of this year's Booker Prize will be announced on November 9 at a ceremony at Old Billingsgate, London.