International Booker shortlist

The International Booker Prize’s 2026 shortlist is set, with the winner due on May 19 at Tate Modern in London. (thebookerprizes.com) The six finalists are *The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran* by Shida Bazyar, translated by Ruth Martin; *She Who Remains* by Rene Karabash, translated by Izidora Angel; *The Director* by Daniel Kehlmann, translated by Ross Benjamin; *On Earth As It Is Beneath* by Ana Paula Maia, translated by Padma Viswanathan; *The Witch* by Marie NDiaye, translated by Jordan Stump; and *Taiwan Travelogue* by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ, translated by Lin King. (thebookerprizes.com) The prize goes to 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 2026 judges chose the shortlist from a 13-book longlist and 128 submissions from publishers. (thebookerprizes.com) What sets this award apart is that the money is split evenly between writer and translator. The winner receives £50,000, and each shortlisted book gets £5,000, divided between the two names on the cover. (thebookerprizes.com) That structure has pushed translators to the center of this year’s conversation, not as invisible intermediaries but as credited partners in how a book reaches English-language readers. The Booker Prize Foundation says the award exists to recognize “the vital work of translation.” (thebookerprizes.com) This year is also the 10th anniversary of the prize in its current form, which has awarded a single translated book each year since 2016. The Foundation’s winners list runs from Han Kang and Deborah Smith for *The Vegetarian* to Banu Mushtaq and Deepa Bhasthi for *Heart Lamp*. (thebookerprizes.com) The 2026 list spans five original languages — Bulgarian, French, German, Mandarin Chinese and Portuguese — and authors and translators from eight countries across four continents. Five of the six authors and four of the six translators are women. (thebookerprizes.com) The books themselves range across time and place: 1930s Taiwan under Japanese rule, Nazi-era Europe, suburban France in the 1990s, post-revolutionary Iran, a remote Brazilian prison and the Albanian Alps. Chair of judges Natasha Brown said the novels “reverberate with history” while remaining “energising.” (thebookerprizes.com) There is also a mix of newcomers and repeat contenders. *The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran* and *She Who Remains* are debut novels, while Kehlmann and Benjamin were previously shortlisted together in 2020, and NDiaye and Stump were longlisted together in 2016. (thebookerprizes.com) The shortlist is already fixed; the remaining question is which author-translator pair will walk onto the Tate Modern stage on Tuesday, May 19, 2026. (thebookerprizes.com)