International Booker Prize 2026 Shortlist highlights stories of power, exile and resistance

The shortlist for the International Booker Prize has been unveiled, featuring six works that span continents, histories and cultures. The prestigious prize celebrates the finest fiction translated into English, recognising both authors and translators. This year’s selection moves across diverse settings — from 1930s Taiwan under Japanese rule to Nazi-era Europe, suburban France in the 1990s, post-revolution Iran, a remote Brazilian penal colony and the mountainous regions of Albania.

Two of the shortlisted books are debut novels, while several author-translator pairs return after previous nominations. Despite their varied backdrops, a shared thread runs through the list: characters grappling with control, displacement and forces beyond their power.

Themes of identity, oppression and survival dominate

Among the nominees, The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran by Shida Bazyar, translated by Ruth Martin, traces generations of an Iranian family navigating revolution, exile and identity. She Who Remains by Rene Karabash, translated by Izidora Angel, explores gender and freedom through a young woman who rejects forced marriage by adopting a male identity.

Daniel Kehlmann’s The Director, translated by Ross Benjamin, delves into moral compromise under Nazi rule, while On Earth As It Is Beneath by Ana Paula Maia, translated by Padma Viswanathan, presents a stark portrait of brutality within a prison colony.

In The Witch, Marie NDiaye (translated by Jordan Stump) blends the ordinary with the supernatural to examine motherhood and power. Meanwhile, Taiwan Travelogue by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ, translated by Lin King, offers a layered narrative of colonialism, food and identity through a fictional memoir.

Judges noted that the shortlisted works collectively explore what happens when freedom, whether artistic, personal or political, is restricted. Through stories of exile, resistance and resilience, the books reflect the enduring human struggle to survive, adapt and remain true to oneself in the face of oppression.