Harrison makes Booker history as oldest winner at 81

British author M. John Harrison has won the 2026 Booker Prize for his dystopian novel The End of Everything, becoming the oldest recipient in the prestigious literary award’s history at the age of 81.

Harrison received the £50,000 prize at a ceremony held at Old Billingsgate in London on Monday.

Last year’s winner, David Szalay, presented him with the award.

The victory marks Harrison’s first Booker Prize nomination and makes him the first author whose work is primarily associated with science fiction to win the award, according to the Booker Prize Foundation.

His 13th novel, The End of Everything, is set along England’s Kent coast, where a beachcomber and his elderly aunt struggle to survive in the aftermath of a mysterious catastrophe.

Their world is further unsettled by the arrival of shape-shifting entities known as the iGhetti.

At just 198 pages, the novel was the shortest among the six books shortlisted for this year’s award.

The judging panel, chaired by historian and broadcaster Mary Beard, unanimously selected Harrison’s work from 163 submissions.

Beard described the novel as “the politics of now seen through the lens of the future”, praising its combination of dark humour, political satire and optimism.

Harrison, whose literary career spans six decades, has now surpassed Canadian author Margaret Atwood to become the oldest-ever Booker Prize winner. Atwood was 79 when she jointly received the award in 2019.

The 2026 shortlist also featured previous Booker winners Marlon James and Douglas Stuart, alongside Elizabeth Strout, Luke Kennard and Rebecca Perry.

The win is also a landmark achievement for independent publisher Serpent’s Tail, marking its first Booker Prize victory.

Established in 1969, the Booker Prize honours outstanding works of fiction written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland.