October 2026 Arts Prize Roundup: Booker, Baillie Gifford, Trinity Buoy Wharf and More
The shortlist for the 2026 Booker Prize features six titles: The End of Everything by M John Harrison, The Disappearers by Marlon James, Black Bag by Luke Kennard, May We Feed the King by Rebecca Perry, The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout, and John of John by Douglas Stuart. The judging panel, led by Mary Beard, comprises Raymond Antrobus, Jarvis Cocker, Rebecca Liu, and Patricia Lockwood. The winner, to be announced in London on 9 November, will receive £50,000. Additionally, the Baillie Gifford Prize shortlist includes Edmund Richardson and Matthew Sweet, with the winner revealed on 4 November. Yvonne Crossley claimed the £15,000 Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize, while Will Magee won the New Writers Poetry Competition. Jackie Morris and Thomas Halliday received the Wainwright Prizes, and Farshid Moussavi will be honored with the Soane Medal on 24 November. Open calls are available for the John Ruskin Prize, Pastel Society Open Call, and New Writers Novel Prize.
Key facts
- The 2026 Booker Prize shortlist includes Marlon James, Elizabeth Strout, and Douglas Stuart.
- The Booker Prize winner will be announced on 9 November at Old Billingsgate in London.
- Yvonne Crossley won the £15,000 Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2026 for Octogenarian Dancer.
- The Baillie Gifford Prize shortlist features six authors, with the winner announced on 4 November.
- Farshid Moussavi OBE RA will receive the 2026 Soane Medal at The Royal Academy on 24 November.
- The Wainwright Prizes awarded The Book of Birds by Jackie Morris and Robert Macfarlane as Book of the Year.
- The John Ruskin Prize, with a £9,500 prize pool, closes for entries on 17 November.
- The New Writers Novel Prize, closing 31 October, offers £1,000 and writing software worth $649.
Entities
Artists
- Yvonne Crossley
- Elena Grossi
- Lucie Holzer
- Will Magee
- Jiayi
- Sarah Raybould
- Barnaby Wick
- Alistair Bamford
- Nicholas Boggs
- Anand Gopal
- Patrick Radden Keefe
- Edmund Richardson
- Matthew Sweet
- Andrea Wulf
- Helen Garner
- M John Harrison
- Marlon James
- Luke Kennard
- Rebecca Perry
- Elizabeth Strout
- Douglas Stuart
- Mary Beard
- Raymond Antrobus
- Jarvis Cocker
- Rebecca Liu
- Patricia Lockwood
- Jackie Morris
- Robert Macfarlane
- Thomas Halliday
- Gavin Scott
- Farshid Moussavi
- Alfred Wainwright
- Sir John Soane
- John Ruskin
- Dr Diana Carroll
- Emma Cline
- Giles Coren
- Chloe Aridjis
- Makenna Goodman
- M. John Harrison
- Kenan Orhan
- Gwendoline Riley
- Djamel White
- Missouri Williams
- Maggie O'Farrell
- Ann Patchett
- John Lanchester
- Deborah Levy
- Julian Barnes
- David Szalay
- Samantha Harvey
- Paul Lynch
- Shehan Karunatilaka
- John Herbert
- Yagnishsing Dawoor
- Michel Faber
Institutions
- Booker Prize Foundation
- Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize
- The Bouy Store
- Baillie Gifford Prize
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- Hodder & Stoughton
- New Writers Poetry Competition
- Serpent’s Tail
- Hamish Hamilton
- John Murray
- Granta
- Viking
- Picador
- Wainwright Prizes
- Soane Medal
- Royal Academy
- Harvard University Graduate School of Design
- John Ruskin Prize
- Pastel Society
- Mall Galleries
- New Writers Novel Prize
- The Novel Factory
- ArtsHub
- Booker Prize
- BBC Radio 4
- Front Row
- The New York Times
- The Times
- Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize
- Serpent's Tail
- Waterstones
- The Guardian
Locations
- UK
- London
- Wales
- Paris
- Adelaide
- Old Billingsgate
- Lincoln’s Inn Fields
- Trinity Buoy Wharf
- Kingston
- Jamaica
- Outer Hebrides
- Scotland
- Kent
- Australia
- United Kingdom
- Mexico City
- Mexico
- Zurich
- Switzerland
- Massachusetts
- United States
- Ireland
- England
- Dublin
- Italy
Sources
- ArtsHub UK —
- ArtsJournal —
- BBC Culture —
- BBC Culture —