The jury of the International Booker Prize, which awards translated works in English, revealed its six finalists for the 2026 edition on March 31st, including the French writer Marie NDiaye. The winner of the 2009 Prix Goncourt is in the running with “The Witch” (La sorcière), originally published in French by éditions de Minuit in 1996, but only translated into English this year by Jordan Stump, who has also translated seven of her other books.
This year’s selection is particularly female-oriented, with five female authors and four female translators. The finalists, from Germany, Bulgaria, Brazil, France, and Taiwan, made it to the final round from 128 novels or short story collections that were selected. Their characters are immersed in different time periods, including the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the era of Nazi Germany, and the Japanese colonization of Taiwan in the 1930s.
According to the jury president Natasha Brown, the books “capture moments of the past century,” conveying “grief, brutality, and loneliness,” as well as “hope, insight, and a vivid humanity.”
The prize will be awarded on Tuesday, May 19th during a ceremony in London, with a reward of 50,000 pounds (approximately 58,000 euros) to be split between the author and the translator.
Les finalistes de l’International Booker Prize 2026
- The Director – Daniel Kehlmann (translated from German by Ross Benjamin, Publisher: Quercus)
- The Witch – Marie NDiaye (translated from French by Jordan Stump, Publisher: Knopf)
- Taiwan Travelogue – Yíng Shuǎng-zōng (translated from Chinese by Lin King, Publisher: Graywolf Press)
- The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran – Shida Bazyar (translated from German by Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp, Publisher: Dialogue Books)
- She Who Remains – René Karabash (translated from Bulgarian by Izidora Angel, Publisher: Tilted Axis Press)
- On Earth As It Is Beneath – Ana Paula Maia (translated from Portuguese by Zoë Perry, Publisher: Charco Press)
Last year, the International Booker Prize was awarded to the Indian writer and activist Banu Mushtaq with her translator Deepa Bhasthi for the short story collection “Heart Lamp,” depicting the everyday life of women from Muslim communities in southern India.
