It took sixty years of writing, but M. John Harrison finally has literature’s best-known British trophy on his shelf. The 81-year-old was named winner of the 2026 Booker Prize on Monday night in London for The End of Everything, making him the oldest recipient since the award began. He overtakes The Handmaid’s Tale author, who was two years younger when she shared the honour seven years ago.
The novel is set on a near-future Kent coastline after an unexplained catastrophe has broken British society apart. A man and his aunt try to get by as shape-shifting beings appear among them. Harrison deliberately leaves the background vague, wanting readers to feel as lost as his characters. In his own words, what goes wrong in the book is above all people’s inability to make sense of events, or “the failure to comprehend”.
Mary Beard, the classicist who chaired the five-member jury, did not pretend it was an easy book, but said the best fiction often is not. In her verdict it “turns you upside down” and still leaves a hint of optimism. Among her fellow judges were the Britpop singer Jarvis Cocker and the poet Raymond Antrobus. Beard joked that the debate was intense, yet “nobody stomped off”.
Running to just 198 pages, it was the slimmest title on the six-book shortlist, and it gives independent publisher Serpent’s Tail its first Booker win at the fifth attempt. Harrison has long had a cult following in science fiction, a label he dislikes; Booker Foundation chief Gaby Wood described him as the first winner to come from that world. His body of work includes 13 novels, five story collections and an “anti-memoir”.
Harrison takes home £50,000; David Szalay, whose novel triumphed last year, handed him the trophy.
