As Mary Beard (@wmarybeard), Chair of judges, said, ‘These novels range from the hilarious to the discomfiting, from the frighteningly strange to the alarmingly domestic, from the powerfully shocking to the intriguingly understated. In them, we meet characters from different countries and different centuries, created by authors 40 years apart, new talent and well-known favourites.’ Spanning historical fiction, contemporary realism and near-future landscapes, the six books ask what it means to be human in an ever-changing world. Find out everything you need to know about the Booker Prize 2026 shortlist by tapping the link in bio and then tapping the same image as the one you see here.