NEVER TOO LATE! 81-YEAR-OLD AUTHOR MAKES HISTORY WITH BOOKER PRIZE WIN
If you ever needed proof that it is never too late to reach the top, the 2026 Booker Prize has delivered it.
English author M John Harrison, 81, has won the prestigious literary award for his novel The End of Everything, making him the oldest winner in the prize's history.
The announcement was made at a ceremony in London on Monday night, UK time, which was the morning of November 10 here in Australia.
Harrison takes home £50,000, which is roughly $95,000 in Australian dollars.
A Booker Prize first for science fiction
The win is a milestone in more ways than one.
According to Al Jazeera, it is the first time a work of science fiction has taken out the prize.
Harrison has spent decades championing the genre, saying he has been working for 40 to 50 years to shift how it is viewed, both as a novelist and as a critic.
Gaby Wood, chief executive of the Booker Prize Foundation, described him as the first winner to emerge from the "bona fide SF world", as reported by ABC News.
For comparison, Margaret Atwood was about two years younger than Harrison is now when she won in 2019.
What The End of Everything is about
At just 198 pages, this is a book you could happily finish over a long weekend.
It is set on the southern English coast, decades after a mysterious invasion has caused society to collapse.
The story follows Phillip Tennent, a scavenger who finds a strange bundle on the beach and takes it home to his aunt Marnie.
Marnie is an artist whose memory is beginning to fail, and she does not trust the object, which seems to grow as the pair talk.
Harrison has said the idea was first sparked by the 2008 global financial crisis.
Judging panel chair Mary Beard, the classicist and broadcaster, called it "the politics of now seen through the lens of the future".
The judges chose the winner unanimously.
Who else was in the running for the Booker Prize
The book beat a strong field of six shortlisted novels, chosen from 163 submissions.
The other contenders were 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.
Both James and Stuart are previous winners, so this was no easy victory.
Alongside Beard, the judges were poet Raymond Antrobus, Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker, editor and critic Rebecca Liu and novelist Patricia Lockwood.
You can explore the full shortlist on the official Booker Prizes website, which is a terrific place to find your next read.
Why this win matters to readers here
The prize is open to novels written in English by authors of any nationality, provided they are published in the UK or Ireland.
Australian readers will remember Tasmanian author Richard Flanagan's own Booker win, which proved our writers can hold their own on the world stage.
Harrison's success at 81 is also a lovely reminder that creativity does not come with an expiry date.
Many of us put our passions on hold while we juggle careers, children and caring duties, and stories like this show there is still time to pick them back up.
Whether it is writing, painting or learning something entirely new, your best work may well be ahead of you.
How to make it part of your summer reading
Prize winners tend to fly off the shelves quickly, so it is worth asking at your local bookshop or library to reserve a copy.
If you belong to a book club, this would make a brilliant pick for a December catch-up, as there is plenty to discuss.
Not a fan of science fiction?
Elizabeth Strout's novels are much-loved for their warmth, and her shortlisted title could be the perfect gift for the reader in your life this Christmas.
