She Who Remains

Rene Karabash’s *She Who Remains* is one of six books on the 2026 International Booker Prize shortlist, putting a Bulgarian novel about gender, violence and custom into a global prize race. (thebookerprizes.com, publishersweekly.com) The shortlist was announced on March 31, 2026, and the winner is due on May 19 at Tate Modern in London. Each shortlisted book receives £5,000, split equally between author and translator, and the winning pair shares £50,000. (publishersweekly.com, thebookerprizes.com) Karabash wrote the book in Bulgarian, and Izidora Angel translated it into English. The English edition was published on February 10, 2026 by Peirene Press, while Publishers Weekly listed Sandorf Passage on the shortlist announcement. (thebookerprizes.com, publishersweekly.com) The novel is set in northern Albania, where Bekja avoids an arranged marriage by becoming a “sworn virgin,” taking the name Matija and living publicly as a man under the Kanun, a traditional legal code. A visiting journalist frames the story years later, as family losses and buried facts resurface. (thebookerprizes.com, scroll.in) Scroll.in reported that the book was first published in Bulgarian in 2018 and described Bekja as a girl whose father wanted a son, whose marriage is arranged, and whose life changes after rape makes that marriage a death sentence under village rules about “purity.” (scroll.in) In the novel’s world, becoming Matija brings freedoms reserved for men: smoking, drinking, staying out at night, and moving through public space without the limits imposed on women. It also triggers a blood feud that forces male relatives to face retaliation. (scroll.in, thebookerprizes.com) The Booker judges called the book “a dark and poetic novel about identity, gender, love, freedom, and societal norms,” and said its freedom “comes at a cost that tears Matija’s family apart.” Publishers Weekly said Karabash is one of two debut novelists on the 2026 shortlist. (thebookerprizes.com, publishersweekly.com) Karabash, born Irena Ivanova, is identified by the Booker Prize as a Bulgarian poet, writer, screenwriter, actor and playwright. Angel describes herself as a Bulgarian-born writer and translator based in Chicago. (thebookerprizes.com, izidoraangel.com) The shortlist gives the novel a wider English-language audience just weeks after publication, and centers a story in which survival depends on crossing the line between the life a village assigns and the one a person can bear to live. (thebookerprizes.com, scroll.in)