BRITISH AUTHOR M JOHN HARRISON WINS £50,000 BOOKER PRIZE AT 81

British writer M John Harrison has become the oldest winner of the Booker Prize, receiving the 2026 award at 81 for his novel, The End of Everything.

Harrison accepted the £50,000 prize at a ceremony in London on Monday night. His 13th novel was chosen from 163 entries, with the judges unanimously selecting it ahead of five other finalists.

The dystopian story follows scavenger Phillip Tennent and his aunt, Marnie, in southern England decades after a mysterious invasion has caused society to collapse.

Their lives take an unexpected turn when Tennent discovers a strange object on a beach and brings it to Marnie, an artist whose memory is fading.

Harrison said the idea began after the 2008 global financial crisis, with contemporary events shaping the novel’s themes.

“What happens when all of our expectations and explanations of the world become an ongoing disaster, but we still have to make a life?” he asked.

Accepting the award, Harrison admitted he had not expected to win and thanked his publisher and his partner, editor Cath Phillips.

“No-one writes a novel alone,” he said, acknowledging the support he had received throughout his career.

Judging panel chair Mary Beard described the book as “the politics of now seen through the lens of the future.” She praised its ability to unsettle readers while offering humour and an unexpected sense of optimism.

Harrison’s writing career spans six decades. He previously won the Arthur C Clarke and Philip K Dick awards for Nova Swing and served as a Booker judge in 2022.

He said the win affirmed the freedom to combine different forms of storytelling without being confined by genre labels.

The Booker Prize, first awarded in 1969, recognises novels written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland.