The 2026 longlist reveals the sweeping power and quiet depths of contemporary fiction, a trove of stories that move between the storm of global upheaval and deeply intimate themes. These books trace the shadows of displacement, lift forgotten voices into the light, lay bare the fragile beauty of familial and expectations of mother‑child bonds, and wander through the shifting landscapes of identity and human connection.
The full list in alphabetical order by author surname is:
- Gloria Don’t Speak by Lucy Apps (Weatherglass Books)
- Paradiso 17 by Hannah Lillith Assadi (4th Estate, HarperCollins Publishers UK)
- Moderation by Elaine Castillo (Atlantic Books)
- Flashlight by Susan Choi (Jonathan Cape, Vintage, Penguin Random House UK)
- Dominion by Addie E. Citchens (Europa Editions UK)
- The Benefactors by Wendy Erskine (Sceptre, Hodder & Stoughton, Hachette UK)
- The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House UK)
- The Mercy Step by Marcia Hutchinson (Cassava Republic Press)
- The Others by Sheena Kalayil (Fly on the Wall Press)
- Kingfisher by Rozie Kelly (Saraband)
- Heart the Lover by Lily King (Canongate)
- Audition by Katie Kitamura (Fern Press, Vintage, Penguin Random House UK)
- A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar (Scribner, Simon & Schuster UK)
- Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (Canongate)
- The Best of Everything by Kit de Waal (Tinder Press, Headline Publishing Group, Hachette UK)
- A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing by Alice Evelyn Yang (Dead Ink)