Booker longlist drops
The International Booker Prize 2026 longlist was revealed, spotlighting a globally diverse set of fiction including works by women and titles that have faced bans — Esquire India has the full guide to the selections International Booker longlist. At the same time the Aldiss Award and the Kalinga Literary Festival announced their longlists in SF/F and five categories respectively, marking a busy awards season for readers and collectors Aldiss list Kalinga longlists.
The Booker Prize Foundation announced the longlist of 13 books on 24 February 2026 (thebookerprizes.com). Those 13 titles were chosen from 128 submissions and represent translations from 11 original languages and authors/translators of 14 nationalities across four continents (thebookerprizes.com). Shahrnush Parsipur’s Women Without Men, longlisted in Faridoun Farrokh’s translation, is a 1989 novella that was banned in Iran after publication and whose author was imprisoned multiple times for her writing (thebookerprizes.com). More than half of the longlisted books were published by independent presses, with Foundry Editions earning its first International Booker nomination and Fitzcarraldo Editions recording its 17th nomination (thebookerprizes.com). The six-book shortlist will be announced on 31 March 2026 and the winner will be revealed at a London ceremony on 19 May 2026; the winner receives £50,000 split between author and translator while each shortlisted title receives £5,000 (thebookerprizes.com). The Aldiss Award published its 2026 longlist on 14 March 2026, featuring entries from A.G. Slatter (The Crimson Road), Cassandra Khaw (The Library at Hellebore), Adrian Tchaikovsky (Made Things; Shroud) and John Scalzi, among many other world‑building candidates (thealdissaward.com). The Kalinga Literary Festival announced longlists across five categories — Nonfiction, Fiction, Translated Fiction, Debut and Poetry — with the shortlist due in the second week of April and winners to be announced at a Delhi ceremony on 8 May 2026, each prize carrying a cash award of Rs 1 lakh (scroll.in).
