British science fiction writer M. John Harrison has won the 2026 Booker Prize. He received the award for his novel The End of Everything, which is set in a world after an unknown catastrophe, reports the BBC.
At 81, Harrison is the oldest winner in the prize's entire history. The previous age record belonged to Margaret Atwood, who won the Booker in 2019 at the age of 79.
Harrison is also the first winner of the prize to come from the world of science fiction. His work began appearing in New Worlds magazine as early as the 1960s, and he later worked there as books editor. In total, the writer has published 13 novels. Among his best-known works are the Viriconium cycle and the novels Light and Nova Swing.
Harrison himself dislikes having his work assigned to a particular genre. After receiving the award, he was asked what he would like to say to readers encountering his work for the first time.
“It's a grim world, and it'll keep on being grim. And it's weird”, the writer replied. “But at the end of things there may be some kind of — I wouldn't say hope, or closure, but there might be some kind of relief.”
The head of the Booker Prize Foundation, Gaby Wood, called him “a truly original thinker” and a writer who has shaped his own genre and takes ideas seriously.
The End of Everything tells the story of a man and his aunt living on the coast of south-east England after a catastrophic event and the arrival on Earth of mysterious alien beings. Harrison deliberately avoided describing in detail what happened before the catastrophe, so that the reader would experience the same disorientation as the characters.
This year's chair of the judges, Mary Beard, noted that the novel shows how difficult it is to understand what is happening while a catastrophe is actually under way. At the same time, she said, the book contains “many glimmers of optimism”.
