A cast of acclaimed actors has been enlisted to bring sections of each of the books shortlisted for this year’s Booker Prize to life.
The Booker Prize is one of the world’s most prestigious literary awards. It is awarded each year to the author of what the judges consider the best work of fiction written in English and published in the UK or Ireland. First awarded in 1969, the prize has helped launch and elevate the careers of many major writers.
This year, two distinctly queer novels have made the shortlist.
Marlon James is nominated for The Disappearers
Among this year’s shortlist is Marlon James, who won the Booker Prize in 2015 for his novel A Brief History of Seven Killings. This year, he is nominated for The Disappearers.
In 1988, eight men in Kingston, Jamaica, begin rehearsals for a play. The men are strangers to one another, and each has a different reason for being involved. However, they share one inescapable truth: all of them are gay, described in Jamaican argot as a “batty man,” and all must contend with the dangers that such a reality exposes.
One night, a mob violently attacks them, killing one of the men. For the survivors, recovery is as much emotional as it is physical. As their bodies heal, each man grapples with the violence, hatred and rage revealed by the attack. Some try to ignore what the violence has unearthed, while others pursue retribution.
The Disappearers is both a dramatic page-turner and an unflinching exploration of queer life in Jamaica during the 1980s and 1990s.
Actor Paterson Joseph performs a section of the novel in a short film.
Douglas Stuart is nominated for John of John
John of John is the story of a young man’s return home and the strain that family expectations place on longstanding relationships.
Out of money and with little to show for his art school education, John-Calum Macleod takes the ferry home to the Isle of Harris and discovers that little has changed except himself.
In the windswept croft where he grew up, Cal resumes his old life, caught between two central figures from his childhood: his father John, a sheep farmer, weaver and pillar of the local Presbyterian church, and his Glaswegian grandmother Ella, who has maintained a fragile peace with her son-in-law for decades.
While Cal wonders whether he might find companionship among other lonely men on the island, John struggles with his son’s long hair and what he sees as his unwillingness to be saved. As the seasons pass, change becomes inevitable, and the ties binding the community become increasingly strained.
John of John further cements Douglas Stuart’s reputation as one of Britain’s leading contemporary writers. He is also known for Shuggie Bain and Young Mungo. Shuggie Bain won the Booker Prize in 2020.
Actor Lewis Gribben performs a section of the novel in the accompanying film series.
The remaining shortlisted books are The End of Everything by M. John Harrison, Black Bag by Luke Kennard, May We Feed the King by Rebecca Perry, and The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout.
The 2026 judging panel was chaired by celebrated classicist, writer and broadcaster Mary Beard. She was joined by award-winning poet, writer and educator Raymond Antrobus; musician, writer and broadcaster Jarvis Cocker; journalist, editor and critic Rebecca Liu; and Booker Prize-shortlisted novelist, poet and essayist Patricia Lockwood.
The winning book will be announced on 9 November 2026 at a ceremony in London. The winner will receive £50,000, while each shortlisted author will receive £2,500.
All films can be viewed on the Booker Prize YouTube channel.
