The End of Everything Wins 2026 Booker Prize

The Booker Prize has a new winning novel—and it’s a timely sci-fi epic.

Considered one of the most prestigious English-language literary awards in the world, the Booker Prize has previously crowned modern classics like Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient, and George Saunders’ Lincoln in the Bardo.

The Winner Of The Booker Prize Is The End Of Everything By M. John Harrison

This year, the prize goes to The End of Everything by M. John Harrison, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi epic about a man who collects artifacts from the decimated banks of the English Channel until he discovers a mysterious creature that threatens to destroy everything he’s ever known.

The Booker Prize committee called the novel, “A book not just about everything but about now. Shimmering and oblique, it holds the reader to the surface of something very grave and deep.” Harrison said in a post-nomination interview that the novel’s post-apocalyptic setting was inspired by current events, explaining, “Current affairs provided the themes and the satire: what happens when all of our expectations and explanations of the world become an ongoing disaster, but we still have to make a life?’

At 81, Harrison is the oldest author to ever win the prize. The End of Everything ​​​​​​is his 13th novel since he began publishing sci-fi and speculative fiction in 1971. His earlier works include the fantasy novel Signs of Life (1996) and the sci-fi novel Light (2002). Harrison previously served as a judge on the Booker Prize Committee in 2022. Beyond the Booker Prize, Harrison’s work has also received the Boardman Tasker Prize, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and the Goldsmiths Prize, and earned him the honor of Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Previously known as the Man Booker Prize, the Booker Prize is conferred by a committee of writers, publishers, and academics, which this year included novelist Patricia Lockwood and Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker. This year, the judges considered 163 novels published in 2026 before announcing a 13-book longlist, and later, a 6-book shortlist. The winning author receives a £50,000 cash prize.

The End of Everything was one of 13 novels initially announced as part of the Booker Prize longlist in July. Also nominated were All Them Dogs by Djamel White, Black Bag by Luke Kennard, The Disappearers by Marlon James, Helen of Nowhere by Makenna Goodman, John of John by Douglas Stewart, May We Feed the King by Rebecca Perry, The Palm House by Gwendoline Riley, The Renovation by Kenan Orhan, The Shadow of the Object by Chloe Aridjis, Switzy by Emma Cline, The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout, and The Vivisectors by Missouri Williams.

In September, the prize committee announced its shortlist: The End of Everything, Black Bag, The Disappearers, John of John, May We Feed the King, and The Things We Never Say. The final prize was presented in London on November 9.

In addition to the fiction prize, the Booker Prize Foundation also awards a Booker International Prize for novels in translation, which this year went to Taiwan Travelogue by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ. Beginning next year, the Booker Prize Foundation will also award a Booker Prize for Children’s Fiction.