International Booker announces winner May 19

The Booker Prize Foundation will announce the 2026 International Booker Prize winner on Tuesday, May 19, at Tate Modern in London, according to the prize’s official website. The award honors a work of fiction translated into English and published in the U.K. or Ireland between May 1, 2025, and April 30, 2026. The winner receives £50,000, split equally between author and translator, while each shortlisted title receives £5,000. The foundation said the announcement will be livestreamed from 10:05 p.m. BST on its YouTube, Instagram and TikTok accounts. ### Which six books are still in contention? The six shortlisted books are *The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran* by Shida Bazyar, translated from German by Ruth Martin; *She Who Remains* by Rene Karabash, translated from Bulgarian by Izidora Angel; *The Director* by Daniel Kehlmann, translated from German by Ross Benjamin; *On Earth As It Is Beneath* by Ana Paula Maia, translated from Portuguese by Padma Viswanathan; *The Witch* by Marie NDiaye, translated from French by Jordan Stump; and *Taiwan Travelogue* by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ, translated from Mandarin Chinese by Lin King. (thebookerprizes.com) The full shortlist was announced on March 31. March 31 marked the release of a shortlist that the Booker Prize Foundation said spans five original languages and authors and translators representing eight countries across four continents. Five of the six authors and four of the six translators are women, according to the foundation. ### What kinds of stories did the judges pick this year? (thebookerprizes.com) The Booker Prize Foundation said the shortlisted books range from Japan-ruled Taiwan in the 1930s to Nazi-controlled Europe during World War Two, from suburban France in the 1990s to post-revolution Iran, a prison in remote Brazil and the Albanian Alps. The foundation described a cast that includes a suburban witch, a bloodthirsty prison warden, a morally compromised filmmaker and a multigenerational family of Iranian emigrants. (thebookerprizes.com) Natasha Brown, chair of the 2026 judging panel, said the books “reverberate with history” and contain “hope, insight and burning humanity,” according to the foundation’s March 31 release. Brown chaired a panel that also included Marcus du Sautoy, Sophie Hughes, Troy Onyango and Nilanjana S. Roy. ### How large was the field for the 2026 prize? (thebookerprizes.com) The 2026 longlist of 13 books was selected from 128 submissions by publishers, the Booker Prize Foundation said. The prize is in its 10th year in its current form, the foundation said when it announced the shortlist. The eligibility window covered books translated into English and published in the U.K. and/or Ireland between May 1, 2025 and April 30, 2026. (thebookerprizes.com) The foundation says the prize is intended to recognize both the original work and the act of translation. ### Why is the translator named alongside every finalist? The £50,000 winner’s purse is divided equally between the author and translator, and the shortlist awards are split the same way at £2,500 each, according to the Booker Prize Foundation. (thebookerprizes.com) That structure is built into the prize and means translators are credited as co-recipients rather than supporting contributors. Padma Viswanathan appears on this year’s shortlist as translator of Ana Paula Maia’s *On Earth As It Is Beneath*. Other shortlisted translators are Ruth Martin, Izidora Angel, Ross Benjamin, Jordan Stump and Lin King. ### Where can readers follow the result on Tuesday night? Tate Modern in London will host the ceremony on Tuesday, May 19, and the Booker Prize Foundation said the winner announcement begins streaming at 10:05 p.m. (thebookerprizes.com) BST. The official channels listed by the foundation are YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. Tuesday’s announcement will decide which of the six shortlisted books takes this year’s prize and the £50,000 award. (thebookerprizes.com) The result is scheduled for May 19 at Tate Modern, with the author and translator of the winning book named that night by the Booker Prize Foundation. (thebookerprizes.com)