Natasha Brown and Troy Onyango are on the International Booker Prize 2026 jury announced in London, UK, on Tuesday, June 24, 2025.
The International Booker Prize is awarded annually for the finest single work of fiction from around the world translated into English and published in the UK and/or Ireland in the previous year. Founded as the Man Booker Prize in 2004, before being rebranded to the International Booker Prize in 2016, previous African winners include David Diop and Chinua Achebe. Maryse Conde, GauZ’, and Itamar Vieira have made the shortlist while Fiston Mwanza Mujila, José Eduardo Agualusa, Alain Mabanckou, and Ngugi Wa Thiong’o have made the longlist in previous years.
The journey for the 2026 prize, the tenth in its current iteration, kicked off today with the announcement of the jury, which included two jury members of African descent: Natasha Brown (chair) and Troy Onyango.
Natasha Brown, Chair of the International Booker Prize 2026 judges, said: “Fiction in translation allows us to reach past borders and language barriers to encounter new stories, experiences, and ideas. Over the years, the International Booker Prize’s shortlists, longlists, and winners have amounted to an impressively varied (and consistently impressive) collection of literature. As a reader, this prize has broadened my literary horizons and introduced me to some of my all-time favourite books — so it’s an enormous honour and privilege to chair this year’s judging panel.”
She added, “During our first meeting, one of my fellow judges described the coming months of reading together as a quest. I think that’s a perfect description. We’re about to embark on an epic journey across the world’s fiction, travelling paths forged by the magic of translation. I can’t wait to share the treasures we discover with readers.”
Natasha Brown is an English novelist whose debut novel, Assembly (2021), won a Betty Trask award in 2022 and was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize, the Folio Prize, and the Orwell Prize for political fiction. It has been translated into 17 languages. Universality (2025), her second novel, is also an Orwell Prize finalist and has been hailed as ‘an instant classic’ by Elle UK.
Troy Onyango is a London-based writer and editor from Kisumu, Kenya, the founder of Lolwe, a Pan-African literary and arts magazine, and the owner of Lolwe Books, an indie Pan-African bookshop in both Kenya and the UK. His debut collection of short stories, For What Are Butterflies Without Their Wings, was published in 2022. His work has appeared in Prairie Schooner, Doek!, Wasafiri, Nairobi Noir, and Transition, among other publications. He was a Caine Prize for African Writing finalist, a Pushcart Prize nominee, and the inaugural Nyanza Annual Literary Festival Prize winner.
A longlist of 12 or 13 books will be announced on Tuesday, 24 February 2026, with a shortlist of six books to follow on Tuesday, 31 March 2026. The winning book will be announced at a ceremony in May 2026.
Previous jury members of African descent include Caleb Femi, Chika Unigwe, Petina Gappah, Leïla Slimani, Aida Edemariam, and Olivette Otele.
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