M. John Harrison takes £50,000 Booker for sci-fi novel
The 81-year-old author becomes the oldest winner in the prize's history with his 13th book.
By Marta Gray ·
M. John Harrison has claimed the 2026 Booker Prize for his science fiction novel, The End of Everything. The win brings a cash award of £50,000, roughly $67,000, to the British author.
The prize recognizes the best fiction published in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Harrison, 81, is the oldest writer to receive the honor since its inception. The novel is the 13th work in his career, which has been dominated by science fiction. He previously won the Arthur C. Clarke Award and the Philip K. Dick Award for his 2006 novel, Nova Swing.
Mary Beard, chair of the judging panel, described the book as a work that turns readers upside down and raises a wry smile. She noted that, given the subject matter, the story leaves the audience with a twinge of optimism. The judges also included poet Raymond Antrobus, Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker, editor Rebecca Liu, and novelist Patricia Lockwood.
Harrison told the Booker Prize team that he drew inspiration from current affairs. He asked what happens when expectations and explanations of the world become an ongoing disaster while people still have to make a life. The narrative follows Philip, a man who searches for artifacts along the Kent coast, and his aunt Marnie. It is set in a post-apocalyptic future dealing with the slow invasion of shape-shifting entities called iGhetti.
Gaby Wood, chief executive of the Booker Prize Foundation, stated that while many past winners borrowed facets of science fiction, Harrison is the first to emerge from the bona fide SF world. She called him a genuinely original thinker and a genre-defying writer who takes ideas seriously. The other shortlisted titles included Marlon James' The Disappearers and Elizabeth Strout's The Things We Never Say.
The trophy is presented by the previous year's winner. David Szalay received the 2025 prize for his novel, Flesh. He will present the award to Harrison this year. The selection process involved a shortlist of five books, from which the judges chose a single winner for the 2026 cycle.
The award serves as a commercial signal to publishers and booksellers. A Booker win typically drives substantial sales for the winning title. Harrison joins a list of winners who have leveraged the prestige to expand their readership into general fiction markets. His work The End of Everything will now compete in bookstores across the U.K. and Ireland alongside the other four shortlisted novels.
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