My Booker Prize predictions list is an annual tradition, although based on my track record for predictions in recent years, I have probably scuppered the chances of my choices below. Any novel originally written in English and published in the UK between 1st October 2025 and 30th September 2026 will be eligible, but it is impossible to know for sure which novels have been submitted for consideration by their publishers.
A significant chunk of the longlist could potentially consist of previous winners of the Prize, whose latest efforts are usually considered automatically. Departure(s) by Julian Barnes is said to be the final novel by the author of the 2011 winner The Sense of an Ending and deals with similar themes of love, ageing and unreliable narrators. John of John by Douglas Stuart could follow the success of Shuggie Bain in 2020 and is set on the Isle of Harris. Vigil by George Saunders sounds as odd as the 2016 winner Lincoln in the Bardo and is about a dying Texas oil billionaire. Son of Nobody by Yann Martel is a retelling of the Trojan War and seems to be very different from the hugely successful Life of Pi which won the Prize back in 2002. It will be interesting to see if Son of Nobody impresses the classicist Mary Beard who chairs this year’s judging panel.
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