NDiaye makes Booker shortlist

Marie NDiaye’s *The Witch*, translated from French by Jordan Stump, is on the 2026 International Booker Prize shortlist. (thebookerprizes.com) The Booker Prize Foundation announced the six-book shortlist on March 31, 2026. NDiaye’s novel was published in French in 1996, and the English edition is published by MacLehose Press in the United Kingdom. (thebookerprizes.com) (thebookseller.com) The International Booker Prize honors fiction translated into English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. For 2026, judges selected the shortlist from 13 longlisted books and 128 submissions from publishers. (thebookerprizes.com) This year is the prize’s 10th anniversary in its current form, with the £50,000 award split equally between the winning author and translator. The 2026 winner is scheduled to be announced on May 19 at Tate Modern in London. (lithub.com) (bookreporter.com) For NDiaye, the shortlist brings a decades-old novel into a new awards cycle through translation. The Booker Prize Foundation said the 30-year gap between the book’s first publication and its shortlist recognition is one of the notable features of this year’s list. (thebookerprizes.com) The book follows Lucie, a witch in a failing marriage who tries to pass her powers to her twin daughters and discovers they are stronger than she is. The English-language edition was released in the United States on April 7, 2026. (thebookerprizes.com) (penguinrandomhouse.com) NDiaye has been a major figure in French literature for decades. Hachette Australia says she won the Prix Femina for *Rosie Carpe* in 2001 and the Prix Goncourt for *Three Strong Women* in 2009, while *Ladivine*, also translated by Stump, was longlisted for the International Booker in 2016. (hachette.com.au) The 2026 shortlist also includes books by Daniel Kehlmann, Shida Bazyar, Ana Paula Maia, René Karabash, and Yáng Shuāng-zǐ. If *The Witch* wins on May 19, the prize will be shared by NDiaye and Stump. (thebookerprizes.com)