International Booker shortlist

Marie NDiaye’s *The Witch* is on the 2026 International Booker Prize shortlist, putting a 1996 French novel into this year’s prize race. (thebookerprizes.com) The shortlist was announced on March 31, 2026, and includes six books chosen from a 13-book longlist. The winner will be named on May 19 at Tate Modern in London. (thebookerprizes.com) NDiaye is shortlisted for the first time, and her book reaches the prize 30 years after its original French publication. The English translation is by Jordan Stump. (thebookerprizes.com) The International Booker Prize covers fiction translated into English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland between May 1, 2025, and April 30, 2026. The winning author and translator split £50,000, and each shortlisted book gets £5,000 split equally between them. (thebookerprizes.com) That makes *The Witch* eligible now because its English-language edition is new, even though the novel itself is not. The Booker Prize site lists MacLehose Press as the publisher, with a publication date of April 14, 2026. (thebookerprizes.com) In the novel, Lucie is a suburban mother from a family of witches who passes the gift to her twin daughters at age 12, only to find their powers quickly exceed her own. The judges called Stump’s translation “exquisite” and said the book brings motherhood into focus through the daughters’ growing power. (thebookerprizes.com) This year’s shortlist spans five original languages and authors and translators from eight nationalities across four continents. According to the Booker Prize announcement, five of the six shortlisted authors and four of the six translators are women. (thebookerprizes.com) The full shortlist includes books by Shida Bazyar, Rene Karabash, Daniel Kehlmann, Ana Paula Maia, Marie NDiaye, and Yáng Shuāng-zǐ. Industry coverage in *Publishers Weekly* said NDiaye’s book is one of two Quercus-group imprints on the list and noted that shortlist recognition typically lifts sales. (publishersweekly.com) For NDiaye, the nomination also extends a longer Booker connection: the Booker Prize site says Stump’s translation of her novel *Ladivine* was longlisted in 2016. This time, an older work has arrived in English at exactly the right moment for prize-season attention. (thebookerprizes.com)