Illustrative photo via Pexels
British novelist M. John Harrison has won the 2026 Booker Prize for The End of Everything, a satirical, post-apocalyptic novel that judges said leaves readers turned upside down but quietly hopeful. At 81, Harrison is the oldest author ever to receive the award.
The book, Harrison’s 13th novel, follows a man named Philip who combs the Kent coast for mysterious “artifacts” with his aunt Marnie, against the backdrop of an invasion by shape-shifting creatures called the iGhetti.
The judging panel was chaired by classicist Mary Beard and included poet Raymond Antrobus, musician Jarvis Cocker, critic Rebecca Liu and novelist Patricia Lockwood. Beard praised the novel for unsettling the reader while leaving a twinge of optimism.
Booker Prize Foundation chief executive Gaby Wood noted that Harrison is the first winner to come out of the science-fiction world. He is long admired in the genre: his 2006 novel Nova Swing won both the Arthur C. Clarke Award and the Philip K. Dick Award.
Harrison receives £50,000 (about $67,000) and a trophy. This year’s shortlist also featured Marlon James’s The Disappearers and Elizabeth Strout’s The Things We Never Say. Last year’s prize went to David Szalay for Flesh.
Sources: NPR via WAMC. Photo: Pexels (illustrative).
