British author John Harrison is world's oldest winner of prestigious Booker Prize at 81

LONDON- British author John Harrison has won the 2026 Booker Prize for his novel, "The End of Everything," a dystopian satire that the prize says probes the limits of human understanding, becoming the oldest winner in the literary award's history at age 81.

Harrison's 13th novel follows Phillip Tennent and his elderly aunt Marnie on England's south coast years after social order has broken down and mysterious entities known as the iGhetti have arrived.

The Booker judges unanimously selected the 198-page book, saying it "turns you upside down, raises a wry smile and, surprisingly, given the subject matter, leaves you with a twinge of optimism."

The victory was the first Booker Prize for Harrison, whose career as a novelist and critic spans six decades and includes acclaimed science fiction and fantasy works.

His win also marks a rare triumph for speculative fiction.

Mary Beard, chair of the judging panel, described the book as "the politics of now seen through the lens of the future", saying it depicts a society grappling with a catastrophe its inhabitants do not fully understand.

Accepting the £50,000 ($67,235) prize at a ceremony in London, Harrison said literary awards remained important in a "landscape of industrialised fiction."

Speaking to the Booker Prize in August, Harrison said his novel was inspired by the 2008 financial crisis and asks what happens when "all of our expectations and explanations of the world become an ongoing disaster, but we still have to make a life."

Harrison beat a shortlist that included former Booker winners Douglas Stuart and Marlon James.

($1 = 0.7437 pounds)

- Sam Tabahriti; editing by Sarah Young/Reuters