International Booker Prize 2026 Shortlist Announced

The shortlist for the 2026 International Booker Prize has been announced, and features six books that reverberate with history, humanity, heartbreak and hope.

Encapsulating a range of international experiences, with many drawing on real moments from history, the six books transport readers from Japan-ruled Taiwan in the 1930s to Nazi-controlled Europe during the Second World War, from magic and domesticity in suburban France in the 1990s to the turmoil and after-effects of the Iranian Revolution in 1979, from a brutal prison colony in a remote corner of Brazil to a strict patriarchal community in the Albanian Alps.  

In championing works from around the world that have originated in a wide range of languages, the prize fosters an engaged global community of writers and readers whose experiences and interests transcend national borders. 

The shortlist:

• The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran by Shida Bazyar, translated from German by Ruth Martin

• She Who Remains by Rene Karabash, translated from Bulgarian by Izidora Angel

• The Director by Daniel Kehlmann, translated from German by Ross Benjamin

• On Earth As It Is Beneath by Ana Paula Maia, translated from Portuguese by Padma Viswanathan

• The Witch by Marie NDiaye, translated from French by Jordan Stump

• Taiwan Travelogue by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ, translated from Mandarin Chinese by Lin King