Intl Booker timeline noted

The International Booker Prize will announce its 2026 winner on Tuesday, May 19, not May 8, according to the prize’s official schedule. (thebookerprizes.com) May 8 is the date of a separate tenth-anniversary event at London’s Southbank Centre, where Dua Lipa is billed to give the opening introduction. The public event starts at 7:30 p.m. at Queen Elizabeth Hall and is described as a one-off celebration of a decade of the prize “in its current form.” (southbankcentre.co.uk) The prize itself is already in its final stretch. The 2026 shortlist of six books was announced on March 31, after a 13-book longlist released on February 24 from 128 submissions. (thebookerprizes.com, thebookerprizes.com) The International Booker Prize honors fiction or short-story collections translated into English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland between May 1, 2025, and April 30, 2026. The £50,000 award is split equally between the winning author and translator, and each shortlisted title receives £5,000, also divided equally. (thebookerprizes.com, thebookerprizes.com) The tenth-anniversary language refers to a rule change in 2016, when the prize took its current annual form for a single translated book rather than a biennial career award. Booker organizers say the anniversary marks ten years of the prize as it now operates. (thebookerprizes.com, southbankcentre.co.uk) This year’s judges are chaired by novelist Natasha Brown, alongside Marcus du Sautoy, Sophie Hughes, Troy Onyango and Nilanjana S. Roy. Booker organizers said the six shortlisted books span five original languages and settings from 1930s Taiwan to post-revolution Iran and Nazi-era Europe. (thebookerprizes.com) The anniversary event also doubles as part of the prize’s public campaign around translated fiction. Southbank Centre says the lineup includes 2025 winners Banu Mushtaq and Deepa Bhasthi, 2021 winner David Diop, publisher Jacques Testard and agent Laurence Laluyaux, with Booker Foundation chief executive Gaby Wood on stage. (southbankcentre.co.uk) Last year’s winner was *Heart Lamp* by Banu Mushtaq, translated from Kannada by Deepa Bhasthi, announced on May 20, 2025, at Tate Modern. Booker organizers said it was the first short-story collection to win the International Booker Prize. (thebookerprizes.com, thebookerprizes.com) So the key dates are now clear: the celebration with Dua Lipa is on May 8, and the 2026 International Booker Prize winner is due on May 19 in London. (southbankcentre.co.uk, thebookerprizes.com)