Overview
- The Booker Prize was awarded on Monday to M. John Harrison for The End of Everything, with jury chair Mary Beard saying the decision was unanimous.
- At 81, Harrison is the oldest author to receive the Booker and the prize marks his first nomination for the award.
- The novel paints a Britain after an unexplained catastrophe and follows Phillip Tennent, a coastal scavenger, as the story probes social collapse and existential uncertainty without relying on conventional genre labels.
- The Booker Prize carries a £50,000 award and the jury highlighted the book’s craft and ambition as reasons it stood out from the short list.
- The win is likely to raise the novel’s profile internationally and accelerate translations and sales, with a German edition reported for next April, and it underscores growing recognition of speculative and experimental writing within major literary prizes.