The 13 titles on the 2026 International Booker Prize longlist have been announced.

The selection was made from 128 books submitted by publishers and celebrates the best works of long-form fiction or collections of short stories translated into English and published in the U.K. and/or Ireland between May 1, 2025 and April 30, 2026. The titles were chosen by a judging panel including author Natasha Brown (chair); writer, broadcaster and Oxford University Professor of Mathematics and for the Public Understanding of Science Marcus du Sautoy; International Booker Prize–shortlisted translator Sophie Hughes; writer, Lolwe editor, and bookseller Troy Onyango; and novelist and columnist Nilanjana S. Roy.

Starring a "queer Argentinian conquistador," a "Japanese novelist with a ‘monstrous appetite’," and a "Danish noblewoman accused of sorcery," among other memorable characters, the longlisted books "use our collective histories to shine a light on our current preoccupations, and on the power imbalances that stem from gender, money and geopolitical forces," per the Booker Foundation. The titles hail from 11 original languages, by authors and translators representing 14 nationalities across four continents.

All but three of the books have U.S. editions out or forthcoming.

The longlisted titles are:

  • The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran by Shida Bazyar, translated from German by Ruth Martin (Scribe)
  • We Are Green and Trembling by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, translated from Spanish by Robin Myers (New Directions)
  • The Remembered Soldier by Anjet Daanje, translated from Dutch by David McKay (New Vessel)
  • The Deserters by Mathias Énard, translated from French by Charlotte Mandell (New Directions)
  • Small Comfort by Ia Genberg, translated from Swedish by Kira Josefsson (HarperCollins, forthcoming September 1, 2026)
  • She Who Remains by Rene Karabash, translated from Bulgarian by Izidora Angel (Sandorf Passage)
  • The Director by Daniel Kehlmann, translated from German by Ross Benjamin (Summit)
  • On Earth As It Is Beneath by Ana Paula Maia, translated from Portuguese by Padma Viswanathan (Charco, U.K. edition)
  • The Duke by Matteo Melchiorre, translated from Italian by Antonella Lettieri (Foundry, U.K. edition)
  • The Witch by Marie NDiaye, translated from French by Jordan Stump (Vintage)
  • Women Without Men by Shahrnush Parsipur, translated from Persian by Faridoun Farrokh (Syracuse UP)
  • The Wax Child by Olga Ravn, translated from Danish by Martin Aitken (New Directions)
  • Taiwan Travelogue by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ, translated from Mandarin Chinese by Lin King (Graywolf)

The longlist features a mix of familiar names in global fiction, as well as authors who are likely to be new to many anglophone readers, the Booker Foundation said, including three debut novels (The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran, The Duke, and She Who Remains). Five of the author/translator pairings—NDiaye/Stump, Énard/Mandell, Kehlmann/Benjamin, Ravn/Aitken, and Genberg/Josefsson. The winning author/translator team will receive a £50,000 prize, and can expect a significant boost in global sales.

2026 marks the International Booker Prize’s 10th anniversary. Booker Foundation chief executive Gaby Wood noted the measurable impact that the prize has made on translated literature as a whole.

"It’s satisfying to note that each of the past 10 winners has been translated from a different language. And that this year, works originally written in 34 languages were submitted, the highest number in the prize’s history—a sign, perhaps, that translated works from an ever-broader range of original languages are increasingly available to anglophone readers," she said in a statement. "Fiction buyers seem to be embracing this: sales of translated fiction have doubled since the prize was first awarded in 2016."

Wood also pointed out that two of the books on this year's longlist—The Witch and Women Without Men—were published in their original languages in the 20th century. "The fact that there is an appetite to publish them in translation now is a cause for celebration," she said.

The shortlist of six books will be announced on Tuesday, March 31 via a press release and on the Booker Prizes website and social media channels. Each shortlisted title will be awarded a prize of £5,000, split evenly between author and translator. The announcement of the winning book will take place on Tuesday, May 19 at a ceremony at Tate Modern in London.