Two former Booker Prize winners, Douglas Stuart and Marlon James, were named among the 13 writers on the 2026 Booker Prize longlist on the date of 2026-07-28, setting up the possibility that either could join the small group of authors to have won the award twice.
The longlist for the £50,000 prize also included Elizabeth Strout, a three-time Booker nominee, and 10 writers appearing on a Booker longlist for the first time. The selected novels were written by authors of seven nationalities across three continents, with almost half of the list from the UK.
Mary Beard, the classicist and broadcaster chairing the judging panel, said the books showed how fiction can move readers into unfamiliar territory and make familiar places appear differently. The panel also includes Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker, writer Raymond Antrobus, novelist, poet and essayist Patricia Lockwood, and Guardian journalist Rebecca Liu.
James, who won the Booker in 2015 for *A Brief History of Seven Killings*, was longlisted for *The Disappearers*, his fifth novel. The book is centred on a homophobic mob attack in 1980s Jamaica and was described by the judges as a reckoning from a distinctive literary voice.
Stuart, the 2020 winner for *Shuggie Bain*, returned to the prize with *John of John*, his third novel. If either James or Stuart ultimately wins, he would become only the fifth writer to receive the Booker twice, after JM Coetzee, Peter Carey, Hilary Mantel and Margaret Atwood.
Strout was recognised for *The Things We Never Say*, her 11th novel. She was previously longlisted in 2016 for *My Name Is Lucy Barton* and shortlisted in 2022 for *Oh William!*.
The full longlist comprises Chloe Aridjis’s *The Shadow of the Object*, Emma Cline’s *Switzy*, Makenna Goodman’s *Helen of Nowhere*, M John Harrison’s *The End of Everything*, James’s *The Disappearers*, Luke Kennard’s *Black Bag*, Kenan Orhan’s *The Renovation*, Rebecca Perry’s *May We Feed the King*, Gwendoline Riley’s *The Palm House*, Strout’s *The Things We Never Say*, Stuart’s *John of John*, Djamel White’s *All Them Dogs* and Missouri Williams’s *The Vivisectors*.
Three debut novelists made the list: Orhan, Perry and White. Perry’s *May We Feed the King* had already won the 2026 Waterstones debut fiction prize. White, aged 28, was the only Irish writer longlisted, while Harrison, at 81, was the oldest author on the list and appeared on a Booker longlist for the first time after 12 earlier novels and a previous role as a Booker judge in 2022.
Gaby Wood, chief executive of the Booker Prize Foundation, said the judges’ range and open-mindedness had produced a list demonstrating the breadth of the novel and rewarding risk.
A total of 163 eligible books were submitted. They were written in English and published in the UK or Ireland between 1 October 2025 and 30 September 2026. The shortlist is due to be announced at London’s Southbank Centre on 22 September, with the winner scheduled to be named on 9 November.
