UK author M John Harrison’s End of Everything wins Booker Prize

What the report says

British author M. John Harrison has won the 2026 Booker Prize for his novel *The End of Everything*, according to Al Jazeera’s report based on AFP and Reuters. The award was announced in London on Monday, and Harrison, 81, becomes the oldest winner in the prize’s history. The judges also said the 198-page book could be viewed in multiple ways, including as a thriller, mystery, satire, dystopia, road novel and work of realism.

The novel is notable as the first science fiction title to receive the prestigious literary award. Al Jazeera reported that the story is set on the southeast coast of England in the near future after an unnamed disaster has disrupted society and brought mysterious alien beings to Britain. It follows a beachcomber who lives with his gun-toting aunt and finds a strange, shape-shifting object on the shore. Critics have praised the book’s dark humour, while some have found its narrative deliberately elusive.

Judges said the novel reflects present-day politics through a futuristic and post-calamity setting. Mary Beard, who chaired the panel, described it as a story about a society facing a catastrophe it does not fully understand. Harrison said he wanted readers to feel some form of relief rather than simple hope or closure. The win is likely to draw wider attention to science fiction as a literary form, a point Harrison has argued for over many years.