Congratulations to Our International Booker Prize Longlisters
The longlist for The International Booker Prize, the world’s most significant award for a single work of translated fiction, was recently announced. This year’s International Booker Prize thirteen-title longlist includes four Penguin Random House titles!
The International Booker Prize is awarded annually for a single book or collection of short stories, translated into English and published in the UK or Ireland between May 1, 2025 and April 30, 2026. The £50,000 prize money, divided equally between the author and translator, aims to encourage more reading of quality fiction from all over the world.
The announcement of the winning book will take place on Tuesday, 19 May 2026 at a ceremony at Tate Modern, London.
A warm congratulations to our authors and teams who brought these titles to life! If you’d like to view the full longlist, learn more here.
A warm congratulations to our honorees! Discover the titles below.
WE ARE GREEN AND TREMBLING by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, translated from Spanish by Robin Myers, (Penguin Random House UK; Harvill Secker) (Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial; Literatura Random House)
From deep in the wilds of the New World, Antonio de Erauso writes a letter to his aunt, the prioress of the convent he escaped as a young girl. Since leaving his past behind, he’s become Antonio, conquistador. Now, hiding in the jungle and hounded by the army he deserted, Antonio is caring for two Guaraní girls he rescued from enslavement. But the New World has one more metamorphosis in store, which might save them all from extinction.
Tender and surreal, We Are Green and Trembling conveys glimmers of hope for the future within the brutal colonial history of Latin America, finding in the rainforest a magical space for transformation.
This fiercely imaginative reworking of colonial history gives voice to a 17th-century figure in the depths of the South American jungle. At once playful and devastating, tender and enraging
— The International Booker Prize 2026 judges
In this simple, startlingly powerful novel, NDiaye lays out her central themes: familial secrets, power, shame, and liberation. NDiaye is one of the greats—her novels are mesmerizing, wholly singular, completely unforgettable.”—Katie Kitamura, author of Audition
In a small French town, a mediocre witch trapped in a cruel marriage cries watery tears of blood as she passes on her gifts to her twin daughters, who soon must make a choice: stay close to the nest and the mother who nourished them, or soar away from the dead-end claustrophobia their selfish father has imposed?
A long-suffering housewife inducts her daughters into a secret practice passed down by the women in her family: witchcraft. The language in this novel is exquisite. The Witch is pure magic
— The International Booker Prize 2026 judges
WOMEN WITHOUT MEN by Shahrnush Parsipur, translated from Persian by Faridoun Farrokh (Penguin Random House UK; Penguin Classics)
This internationally acclaimed masterpiece by one of Iran’s most important and influential writers traces the interwoven destinies of five women – including a wealthy middle-aged housewife, a sex worker and a schoolteacher – as they arrive by different paths to live together in an abundant garden on the outskirts of Tehran.
Drawing on recent Iranian history and transcendent elements of Islamic mysticism, Parsipur’s unforgettable novel sees women escaping strict confines of family and society. It is still as pertinent and discerning today as it was when travelling secretly from hand to hand upon its first publication in 1989.
Against the backdrop of revolution, we follow the lives of five women as they shed their old lives like snakeskin. Parsipur’s layered tales beckon us into a world touched with fable and myth
— The International Booker Prize 2026 judges
THE WAX CHILD by Olga Ravn, translated from Danish by Martin Aitken (Penguin Random House UK; Viking)
It was a black night in the year 1620 when Christenze Krukow made the wax child, when she melted down beeswax and set it in the image of a small human. For days, she carried it tucked beneath her arm, shaping it with the warmth of her flesh, giving it life. She fashioned for it eyes and ears that cannot open, and yet – it watches and listens.
It looks on as Christenze is haunted by rumour, it hears what the people whisper. It sees how, in the candlelight, she gazes with love at her friends, and hears the things they say in the shadows. It knows pine forest, misty fjord and the crackle of the burning pyre. It observes the violence in men’s eyes and the cruelty of their laws. In time, it begins to understand that once a suspicion of witchcraft has taken hold, it can prove impossible to shake…
Set during the witch trials of 17th-century Denmark, this haunting, gripping and singular novel – viewed largely from the perspective of a wax doll – cast a spell on us
— The International Booker Prize 2026 judges