Booker Prize 2026 Predictions

[Cherrypi]

Here's mine:

1. The Palm House by Gwendoline Riley
2. How Do People Stay The Same by Mark Bowles
3. Departure by Julian Barnes
4. Hunger and Thirst by Claire Fuller
5. Whistler by Ann Patchett
6. The Wreck by Lizzy Stewart
7. Telenovela by Gonzalo C. Garcia
8. The Strangers by Naomi Alderman
9. The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout

10 Transcription by Ben Lerner

11 John of John by Douglas Stuart

12 What Am I, a Deer? by Polly Barton

13 Life of M by Rachel Cusk

What do you think?

Nice predictions.

Wimmy Road Boyz by Sufiyaan Salam is being suggested by some.

Vigil by George Saunders

Land by Maggie O'Farrell

Paradiso 17 by Hannah Lillith Assadi

Transcription and The Palm House are the ones everyone seems to think will be there. Also John of John. I’m a bit surprised that the Julian Barnes is suggested as a contender- it’s not really fiction. Or only partially. I think Uprising by Tahmima Anam is in with a shot as is Where the Serpent Lives by Daniyal Mueenuddin. The two I’d really like to see are Nonesuch by Francis Spufford and Country People by Daniel Mason. But they’re probably too much fun.

Okay. Mine are mostly based on various Book Tube prediction videos I’ve watched (and a couple I’ve read)
1 John of John by Douglas Stuart
2 May we Feed the King by Rebecca Perry
3 Gloria Don’t Speak by Lucy Epps
4 Transcription by Benjamin Lerner
5 Venus Vanishing by Rebecca Birrell
6 Beginning, Middle, End by Valeria Luiselli
7 Keshed by Stu Hennigan
8 Wimmy Road Boys by Sufiyaan Salam
9 Uprising by Tahmima Anam
10 The Things we Never Say by Elizabeth Strout
11 What we can Know by Ian McEwan
12 What am I, a Deer by Polly Barton
13 The Palm House by Gwendoline Riley

Ooh three right and four for you @ÚlldemoShúl

I don’t fancy it much though @CherrypiI didn’t love Who will Feed the King and it’s one of the most ‘normal’ on there…

I really enjoyed the one I've read - The palm house.

Here's the list

The Shadow of the Object by Chloe Aridjis

Switzy by Emma Cline

Helen of Nowhere by Makenna Goodman

The End of Everything by M. John Harrison

The Disappearers by Marlon James

Black Bag by Luke Kennard

The Renovation by Kenan Orhan

May We Feed the King by Rebecca Perry

The Palm House by Gwendoline Riley

The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout

John of John by Douglas Stuart

All Them Dogs by Djamel White

The Vivisectors by Missouri Williams

I enjoyed Elizabeth Strout, The Things We Never Say. An easy read, nothing earth shattering or ' you must read this' but I'm pleased to see it there.

The Palm House, I don't know if I was distracted but I just felt it never got going and I'm unsure whether it was just me or indeed all the characters don't really get anywhere over a couple of hundred pages. It also felt more nostalgic than today or tomorrow.

Strout felt more 2026, the change in the USA politics particularly of note.

I'm wondering if John of John and The Disappearers would be best as audio books.

I’ve just read The Palm House and thought it was very average. It’s a “booker” book though I think (dull!). I’ve also read Things We Never Say and loved it.

Why are books that are not published on the list??

Honestly they look a pretty grim bunch. I’ve read the Strout which I enjoyed though it’s relentlessly sad. Also John of John which is less depressing than Young Mungo and is a great description of an enclosed community. I’ll probably read the MJ Harrison as I’ve read some of his others. He’s quite weird though and won’t be to everyone’s taste. I might also read The Palm House. At least it’s short.

They are changing that for next year @HollyhockDayswhich I think will be better

I haven’t read The Palm House yet, but I think Gwendoline Riley is brilliant, though increasingly glum. Makenna Goodman’s Helen from Nowhere is trippy but interesting with a deeply weird ending, very Fitzcarraldo. Djamel White is talented, but his subject matter could not interest me less. I think I’ve done with Elizabeth Strout. Don’t know the others, but my sci-fi nephew swears by M John Harrison.