Booker Prize longlist: See the 13 'dynamite' novels up for this year's prestigious award

Image source, Getty Images Image caption, Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout is among the authors on the Booker Prize longlist By Steven McIntosh Entertainment reporter Published 33 minutes ago Elizabeth Strout, Douglas Stuart, Marlon James and Rebecca Perry are among the authors who have been longlisted for this year's Booker Prize. The 13 chosen books include novels set in Mexico City, a remote Scottish island, an assissted suicide clinic in Zurich, 1980s Jamaica, and Massachussetts before the 2024 US election. Chair of the judges Mary Beard described the 13 novels as "dynamite", adding: "We are confident that our longlist of books has something for everyone." The longlist, referred to as the Booker Dozen, will be whittled down to a shortlist on 22 September, before the winner is announced on 9 November. The annual Booker Prize is the literary world's most prestigious award, recognising long-form fiction by writers of any nationality, written in English and published in the UK or Ireland. The six shortlisted authors will receive £2,500 each and a specially bound edition of their book, while the eventual winner will receive a trophy and £50,000 in prize money. High-profile authors who missed this year's longlist include Maggie O'Farrell, Ann Patchett, John Lanchester, Deborah Levy and Julian Barnes, who many predicted would be recognised for his final book Departure(s). Booker Prize 2026: The longlist in full Image source, Yuki Sugiura The Shadow of the Object by Chloe Aridjis Switzy by Emma Cline Helen of Nowhere by Makenna Goodman The End of Everything by M. John Harrison The Disappearers by Marlon James Black Bag by Luke Kennard The Renovation by Kenan Orhan May We Feed the King by Rebecca Perry The Palm House by Gwendoline Riley The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout John of John by Douglas Stuart All Them Dogs by Djamel White The Vivisectors by Missouri Williams The Booker judges received 163 submissions for this year's prize before settling on the final 13. Each of the five judges read all the submitted books, with Beard joking she "occasionally felt daunted as a new box of 30 or so gleaming volumes landed on my doorstep". "But what I shall most remember is the eye-opening pleasure of it all, and what I learnt about reading and the power of fiction from my fellow judges." What are the longlisted books about? Image source, Getty Images Image caption, Marlon James, who won the Booker Prize in 2015, returns to the longlist this year Three of this year's authors in the Booker Dozen are previous shortlistees, including Elizabeth Strout, who is recognised for The Things We Never Say. It follows a high school history teacher in Massachusetts who is grappling with isolation, post-pandemic social anxiety, and concern about the forthcoming 2024 US election. The two other former shortlistees have also previously won the prize. Shuggie Bain author Douglas Stuart is recognised this time for John of John, about a young gay man who returns to