British writer M. John Harrison wins the 2026 Booker Prize at age 81 for The End of Everything

The award

M. John Harrison received the 2026 Booker Prize on Monday, 9 November, at a special ceremony in London. The 81-year-old British author won for The End of Everything, his 13th novel, published by Profile Books in 2026 with 224 pages. The prize carries 50,000 pounds, almost 60,000 euros. Harrison is not well known to a wide audience despite a long body of work in science fiction, and this was his first time on the shortlist.

The contest

Harrison beat two favourites who had already won the prize: Marlon James, who took it in 2015 with The Disappearers, and Douglas Stuart, who won in 2020 with John of John. The award is often compared to France's Goncourt. British writers filled four of the six places on this year's shortlist. Only two women were finalists: the American writer Elizabeth Strout and the British writer Rebecca Perry.

What the jury said

The jury chair, historian Mary Beard, praised the book at a press conference, pointing to the exceptional quality of the writing and the author's very great ambition. The novel has not yet been translated into other languages. The article notes that the Booker usually brings strong international publishing success, which makes translation deals a likely next step.

The novel

The story takes place in a near-future England that has been swept by an unexplained catastrophe. The main character, Philip Tennant, survives on the Kent coast by collecting objects the sea washes up. He eventually finds an object of unknown origin that can change its shape and imitate people, and it will alter his fate and that of his aunt Marny. Many questions remain unanswered, including what has become of the old continent. As in Harrison's other work, the intrigue concerns philosophical questions more than the material world, and the plot refers to Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic.