In the novel, M John Harrison imagines a Britain transformed by an unexplained catastrophe, with much of society struggling to come to terms with the aftermath.
British author M John Harrison has won the 2026 Booker Prize for his novel ‘The End of Everything’, becoming the oldest writer to receive the prestigious literary honour at the age of 81. Harrison was announced as the winner at a ceremony in London on Monday beating five other shortlisted authors to claim the £50,000 (approximately ₹62 lakh) award.
Harrison became the first writer from the established science fiction community to win the Booker Prize. His novel, a dystopian satire set in a post-apocalyptic Britain, was selected unanimously by the judging panel chaired by historian and classicist Mary Beard.
Harrison breaks the previous age record held by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, who was 79 when she jointly won the Booker Prize in 2019 for The Testaments. Atwood shared that year’s award with British writer Bernardine Evaristo, who won for Girl, Woman, Other.
The 2026 award also recognises Harrison’s writing career, which spans six decades. The End of Everything is his 13th novel and was the shortest book on this year’s shortlist, at 198 pages.
What ‘The End of Everything’ is about
Set along England’s Kent coast in a post-apocalyptic future, The End of Everything centres on Phillip Tennent, who lives with his elderly aunt, Marnie, and makes a living scavenging along the shoreline. Their existence is disrupted when Phillip discovers a mysterious object that can change shape. The discovery comes amid the appearance of strange beings called the iGhetti.
Blending science fiction, dystopia and satire, the novel portrays a society struggling to make sense of an unexplained disaster. It also touches on contemporary anxieties surrounding artificial intelligence, technology and political uncertainty.
The judging panel’s chair, Mary Beard, described the novel as “the politics of now seen through the lens of the future”. Explaining the panel’s decision, Beard said: “It’s a book that turns you upside down, raises a wry smile — and surprisingly, given the subject matter, leaves you with a twinge of optimism.”
Harrison, who has spent much of his career working across speculative and literary fiction, previously resisted the idea of restricting his writing to a single genre. His win has brought renewed attention to the place of science fiction within mainstream literary recognition.
