The Booker Prize 2024 shortlist features a blend of established authors and new voices, with previous winners Marlon James and Douglas Stuart returning alongside Pulitzer Prize recipient Elizabeth Strout and acclaimed British speculative fiction writer M John Harrison. Also included are poet and novelist Luke Kennard and debut novelist Rebecca Perry. The winner of the £50,000 prize will be announced on Monday, 9 November.
Marlon James, who won the Booker in 2015 for *A Brief History of Seven Killings*, is nominated for *The Disappearers*. Set in Jamaica during the AIDS crisis, the novel explores the violent aftermath of an attack on a group of queer men rehearsing a prison-set play. Douglas Stuart, last year’s winner for *Shuggie Bain*, is shortlisted for *John of John*, which examines the return of John-Calum Macleod to his home in the Outer Hebrides, touching on themes of isolation, hidden sexuality, and familial conflict. A recent review described Stuart’s novel as a poignant study of queer men living in silence.
Elizabeth Strout, awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2009 for *Olive Kitteridge*, is nominated for *The Things We Never Say*. Departing from her earlier character-driven works, this novel centers on Artie Dam, a history teacher in Massachusetts whose stable life unravels amid personal secrets and broader societal shifts in America. M John Harrison, who served as a Booker judge in 2022, is recognized for *The End of Everything*, a post-apocalyptic story set in a coastal town in Kent that probes the psychological and existential uncertainties of contemporary life.
Luke Kennard’s *Black Bag* offers a comic campus narrative about an actor who, as part of a psychological experiment, attends lectures concealed inside a black leather bag. The book mixes surreal humor with reflections on ambition and identity. Rebecca Perry, the only debut author on the list and winner of this year’s Waterstones debut prize, is shortlisted for *May We Feed the King*. This novel follows a modern museum curator fascinated by the life of a medieval king, weaving together questions about history and the boundaries between fact and fiction.
Of the seven shortlisted works, four are authored by men, and three—*Black Bag*, *The Disappearers*, and *John of John*—focus explicitly on masculinity and male sexuality. Jarvis Cocker, a panel judge, noted that the prominence of male authors was unexpected given the strength of submissions from women and suggested the theme might reflect contemporary male authors grappling with their societal roles.
Notably absent from the list were Emma Cline, known for the well-received novel *Switzy*, and British writer Gwendoline Riley, whose *The Palm House* was longlisted but did not progress.
Chair of the judging panel Mary Beard described the process as demanding, having read 163 novels over six months. She highlighted each shortlisted book’s distinctive qualities—from Harrison’s dystopian narrative and James’s ambitious exploration of violence, to Kennard’s surreal comedy and Perry’s blending of past and present. Beard emphasized the capacity of these works to offer fresh perspectives on human experience.
The 2024 Booker Prize shortlist, drawn from a diverse pool of entries, will culminate in the announcement of the winner next month, spotlighting contemporary themes of identity, history, and the evolving nature of masculinity.