Marie NDiaye makes Booker shortlist

A novel Marie NDiaye published in French in 1996 just landed on the 2026 International Booker Prize shortlist, 30 years after its first appearance. The English version, translated by Jordan Stump, came out in the United States on April 7, 2026, one week after the shortlist was announced on March 31. (thebookerprizes.com) (penguinrandomhouse.com) The book is called The Witch, but it is not built like a fantasy epic with maps, armies, or spells on every page. Penguin Random House describes it as the story of Lucie, a suburban witch in a strained marriage whose twin daughters turn out to have powers stronger than her own. (penguinrandomhouse.com) The prize itself is for fiction translated into English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. This year’s six-book shortlist was cut from a longlist of 13 books, which had already been selected from 128 submissions. (thebookerprizes.com 1) (thebookerprizes.com 2) That means two people are being recognized at once. The International Booker Prize splits its £50,000 winner’s award equally between the author and translator, and each shortlisted title gets £5,000, also divided equally. (thebookerprizes.com) (scroll.in) Jordan Stump is not a new name in NDiaye’s English-language career. The Booker Prize site says his translation of her novel Ladivine was longlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2016, which makes The Witch a return to the prize for the same author-translator pairing 10 years later. (thebookerprizes.com) NDiaye is also not an emerging writer getting her first break. The Booker Prize press release describes her as a celebrated author of more than 20 works, and The Witch is the first time she has reached the International Booker shortlist itself. (thebookerprizes.com) The shortlist around her is unusually varied in both geography and language. Booker organizers say the six books were translated from five original languages, and the authors and translators together represent eight nationalities across four continents. (thebookerprizes.com) The judges, chaired by Natasha Brown, grouped these books together as novels that “reverberate with history,” but The Witch stands out because its hook is domestic before it is historical. Instead of war or revolution, it starts with a mother, two daughters, and a gift that does not pass down evenly. (thebookerprizes.com) (penguinrandomhouse.com) The winner will be announced on May 19, 2026, at Tate Modern in London. Until then, The Witch sits in the rare position of being both a revived 1996 novel and one of the six most visible translated books in this year’s English-language prize season. (scroll.in) (thebookerprizes.com)