British author M John Harrison has won the 2026 Booker Prize for his post-apocalyptic novel, The End of Everything, becoming the oldest recipient of the prestigious literary award at 81. Announced at a ceremony in London on Monday, the £50,000 prize marks a significant recognition for the writer, whose literary career spans six decades. Harrison’s novel explores life in the aftermath of an unexplained catastrophe that brings British society to collapse, following a man and his aunt as they navigate an unfamiliar world on England’s south-east coast. He surpasses Margaret Atwood as the oldest author to win the Booker Prize.

The novel has attracted divided reactions for its unsettling atmosphere and unconventional approach to storytelling. Rather than explain the catastrophe or the mysterious arrival of alien beings, Harrison deliberately withholds information, placing readers within the same confusion and uncertainty experienced by his characters. He describes the book as a disaster story centred on “the failure to comprehend.” Chair of the Booker judging panel, Dame Mary Beard, praised its originality, describing it as a challenging work that turns readers upside down while leaving them with an unexpected sense of optimism. Harrison, who has published 13 novels, five short story collections and an anti-memoir, has often resisted classifications such as science fiction and fantasy. Booker Prize chief executive Gaby Wood described him as the award’s first winner to emerge from the established science fiction world.

Harrison’s win concludes a competitive year for the Booker Prize, which recognises the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. The other shortlisted writers were Marlon James for The Disappearers, Luke Kennard for Black Bag, Rebecca Perry for May We Feed the King, Elizabeth Strout for The Things We Never Say and Douglas Stuart for John of John. The judging panel, chaired by Beard, also included novelist Patricia Lockwood, poet Raymond Antrobus, musician Jarvis Cocker and journalist and critic Rebecca Liu. After a day of discussion, the judges reached a unanimous decision in Harrison’s favour, recognising a novel that challenges conventional expectations of post-apocalyptic fiction while examining the limits of human understanding.

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