British author M. John Harrison, 81, has won the 2026 Booker Prize for his novel ‘The End of Everything’, becoming the oldest recipient in the award’s history. He was awarded the £50,000 prize at a ceremony in London on Monday, November 9, 2026.
Harrison’s winning novel, ‘The End of Everything’, is a post-apocalyptic story set in a future coastal Britain where social structures have collapsed following an attack by mysterious creatures. Harrison stated that the story was inspired by the 2008 global economic crisis.
The judging panel, chaired by historian Mary Beard, unanimously selected Harrison’s novel from a shortlist of six books, which were chosen from 163 submissions. Beard praised the novel for presenting contemporary politics through a futuristic lens, noting how old social rules can become meaningless in catastrophic circumstances.
The 198-page novel was the shortest among the shortlisted entries. Other finalists included Marlon James’s ‘The Disappears’, Douglas Stuart’s ‘John of John’, Elizabeth Strout’s ‘The Things We Never Say’, Luke Kennard’s ‘Black Bag’, and Rebecca Perry’s ‘May We Feed the King’.
Upon receiving the award, Harrison expressed surprise, stating, “You say that life changes easily, but it feels strange when it actually happens. Finally, I feel like a real writer, although I still lack confidence.”
The Booker Prize, established in 1969, is one of the world’s most prestigious awards for literary works written in English. Since 2014, the prize has been open to any English-language novel published in the UK or Ireland, regardless of the author’s nationality. Harrison’s win surpasses Margaret Atwood’s record, who won the prize in 2019 at the age of 79.
Harrison, who has been active in literature for nearly six decades, has published 13 novels. He previously won the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 2007 for his novel ‘Nova Swing’ and the Goldsmiths Prize in 2020 for ‘The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again’.
Background
- The Booker Prize was established in 1969 by British food wholesaler Booker McConnell Limited to recognise the best contemporary English-language novel.
- Initially, the award was limited to authors from the Commonwealth, Ireland, and Zimbabwe. In 2014, the criteria were expanded to include any English-language literary work published in the UK or Ireland, regardless of the author's nationality.
- Harrison served as a Booker Prize judge in 2022.
