LONDON: British author M John Harrison won the 2026 Booker Prize on Monday (November 09) night for "The End of Everything", a dystopian satire that the judges called a book that leaves you with "a twinge of optimism" about the world.
At 81, Harrison becomes the oldest winner of the prize, after a writing career spanning 60 years. At 198 pages, his novel was also the shortest on this year's shortlist. He was announced as the winner beating 5 other shortlisted candidates in London.
"I feel like a proper writer at last, totally lacking in confidence," Harrison said. "Prizes like this one, not that there are any prizes quite like the Booker, are so important in a landscape of industrialised fiction."
The judging panel, chaired by the historian Mary Beard, spent a full day debating the six novels before agreeing unanimously. "It's a book that turns you upside down, raises a wry smile — and surprisingly, given the subject matter, leaves you with a twinge of optimism," Beard said. At its centre are Phillip Tennent and his elderly aunt Marnie, living on England's south coast a few decades into the future, some years after an invasion of "iGhetti" — "the 'i' hinting at something digital, but you can't be sure", she said.
"The End of Everything" became the first book to win in science- fiction genre making Harrison the first author from the established science fiction community to win the prize. "While plenty of previous winners had dabbled in science fiction, Harrison’s was “the first Booker winner to have emerged from the bona fide SF world”, Gaby Wood, chief executive of the Booker Prize Foundation said.
British fiction dominated the shortlist. Past winners Douglas Stuart, shortlisted for "John of John", and Marlon James, in the running with "The Disappearers", were beaten to the prize, as were Elizabeth Strout ("The Things We Never Say"), Luke Kennard ("Black Bag") and Rebecca Perry ("May We Feed the King").
(With inputs from media reports)