81-year-old sci-fi author M. John Harrison wins the 2026 Booker Prize

By Jacqui Palumbo, Oscar Holland, CNN

(CNN) — British author M. John Harrison’s novel “The End of Everything” has won the 2026 Booker Prize, considered one of the most prestigious literary awards for a work of fiction. At 81 years old, he is the oldest author ever to be awarded with the honor.

The announcement was made during a ceremony at London’s Old Billingsgate, the site of a former fish market, on Monday. Harrison will receive a prize of £50,000 ($67,000). This year’s judging panel, chaired by historian Mary Beard, featured writers Raymond Antrobus and Patricia Lockwood, critic Rebecca Liu and musician Jarvis Cocker, front man of the British band Pulp.

Harrison’s post-apocalyptic turn takes place in the English coastal town of Dalston-on-Sea in the not-too-distant future, during the occupation of mysterious lifeforms called the iGhetti. The story is primarily told through the eyes of Phillip Tennent, a beach scavenger who recovers a biological “artifact” discarded into the sea by the invaders.

Much about the visitors’ origins, intentions and activities remains ambiguous, leading many critics to treat “The End of Everything” as an allegory for emerging AI technology. Yet, the author has said the novel’s inception pre-dates the generative AI boom, telling BBC radio that the real-world event that sparked the plot was the 2008 financial crisis. At 198 pages, it was the slimmest of the six shortlisted books.

“‘The End of Everything’ can be read as a thriller, a mystery, a satire, a dystopia, a road novel, a work of realism; whatever the reader is looking for can be found here, albeit told at a slant and with a twist,” the jury wrote in a Q&A published ahead of the announcement.

Harrison’s win could be considered the first time a science fiction novel has been awarded the prize. Though the 2024 winner “Orbital” takes place aboard a space station, the philosophical novel is murkier in its categorization. Regardless, this year marks a rare recognition of sci-fi, honoring an author who has published within the genre for more than five decades.

Harrison began his “Virconium” series in 1971, set on a futuristic Earth, and continued writing about the fictional city in novels and stories through 1984. Among his other works, he completed the “Kefahuchi Tract” trilogy between 2002 and 2012. This year was the first time he was nominated for the Booker Prize.

“You talk glibly about your life being changed, but it’s weird when it happens. I feel like a proper writer at last, totally lacking in confidence,” Harrison said as he accepted the award.

Harrison beat five other finalists, including the betting market’s favorites Marlon James and Douglas Stuart, both former winners.

Harrison was selected from 163 submissions that were narrowed down to a 13-book longlist and six finalists, announced in September. The shortlist included James’ “The Disappearers” and Stuart’s “John of John” as well as Luke Kennard’s “Black Bag,” Elizabeth Strout’s “The Things We Never Say,” and Rebecca Perry’s “May We Feed the King.”

Ahead of Monday’s ceremony, the Booker Prize Foundation’s chief executive, Gaby Wood, said that the shortlisted books were unified by a question: “What can we know of each other, what do we infer or assume, what are we prepared to see?”

“Despite the great range in their styles and subjects, in all of these novels we find forms of isolation: relationships breaking down or withheld, people harboring secrets or pain, characters closing themselves off from others or attempting to reach beyond their solitude towards them,” Wood said, according to a statement on the Prize’s official website.

First awarded in 1969, the Booker Prize was originally only open to writers from the UK, Ireland or Commonwealth nations. From the 2014 prize onwards, eligibility was opened to include English-language authors of any nationality, as long as the nominated work is published in the UK or Irish markets. Its sister award, the International Booker Prize, is meanwhile awarded for a work of fiction that has been translated into English.

Last year’s Booker Prize went to author David Szalay’s “Flesh,” a sparsely written novel recounting a taciturn Hungarian immigrant’s journey from poverty to the upper echelons of London high society. Other notable winners include Salman Rushdie, William Golding, Ian McEwan, Arundhati Roy and Kazuo Ishiguro. Margaret Atwood previously held the distinction of the oldest author to be honored, when she was jointly recognized at age 79 for “The Testaments.” She shared the 2019 Booker Prize with Bernardine Evaristo, author of “Girl, Woman, Other.”

This story has been updated with additional details.

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