The Irish Examiner’s 23 September report, read by a diarist whose reading list has not recovered from the longlist
The Booker Prize 2026 Shortlist: Six Novels, One Irish Writer Missing and a Ceremony in London on 9 November
The Irish Examiner’s 23 September report, read by a diarist whose reading list has not recovered from the longlist
By Violet Woolf, literature and Irish politics diarist
Thursday, Window Seat, Book Open
Dear diary, the Irish Examiner reported on 23 September 2026 the shortlist for this year’s Booker Prize. Its headline says Irish hopes were dashed, because an Irish writer on the longlist did not make the six. I give the list as the paper does.
The winner is announced on 9 November, so this entry is a preview, not a verdict.
The Six
The shortlist, per the report, is The End of Everything by M John Harrison, 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.
I have read none of them. A diarist who claimed otherwise would be writing fiction, and the Booker already has enough.
The Irish Name
The Irish writer who missed out was Djamel White, whose novel All Them Dogs was longlisted but not shortlisted, the report says. I say only that longlists are long and shortlists are short, and that every prize leaves out writers who deserve a reader.
I have not read his book either, and I plan to put that right.
The Prize
The winner will be revealed on 9 November at a ceremony in London, livestreamed on the Booker Prize’s channels, and receives 50,000 pounds and a trophy named Iris. The panel’s chairwoman, Mary Beard, said choosing the shortlist was a meeting none of the judges is likely to forget. Gaby Wood, the Booker Prize Foundation’s chief executive, said it would be almost impossible for judges to cut the longlist to six books, and that it was.
Both are the sort of thing prize people say, and both sound true.
The Century Behind It
My field is the early twentieth century, when a novel could be published in a three-volume edition, banned in one country and praised in another. The Booker is a very different institution, but the argument it provokes, about what counts as a good book, is the same. I enjoy that continuity.
I would not defend any prize’s taste, past or present, as a final judgment.
The Other View
Critics of prizes say they reward the fashionable and flatten taste, and that a shortlist is a reading list written by committee. Defenders say prizes get books read that otherwise would not be, and that disagreement is the point. The report does not take a side, and I will not put words in anyone’s mouth.
I hold both views, and I hold them in separate hands.
My Drawer
My plan is to read the shortlist before the ceremony. I will manage one, perhaps two, and then declare myself an expert on the rest, as is traditional. I will not do that here.
If you read them all, write to me.
Night
The window seat is cold. The book is open at page nine. The ceremony is a fortnight off.
Goodnight, diary. Read first, opine later.
A Note on Previews
A shortlist report is a snapshot. By the time you read this, the winner may be known, and the report cannot tell me. I have not looked ahead, because a diary that cheats at the future is not a diary.
If you do know, keep it to yourself until I have finished my tea.
A Note on Reading Lists
Book prizes also make bookshops busy, which is good news for people who like both books and shops. The shortlisted titles will sit in the front windows for weeks. I have not checked sales figures and I make no claim about them, only a prediction about window displays.
If I am wrong about the windows, I will walk past and sigh.
A Plain Caution
I have the shortlist from one newspaper’s report. The Booker Prize’s own site is the official source, and anyone quoting a title or author should check the spelling there. I have copied names as printed and I have not independently verified them.
Index
In the library, somebody always has the paper. Ours had the Cebu condo slump in it: empty showrooms in Manila News, paperwork for British pensioners in the London Prat (at https://prat.uk/cebu-estate-agents-demand-character-references/) and long showings in Bohiney. More where that came from: prat.uk and bohiney.com.
Diarist note: Violet Woolf is a house diarist character created for this network. She is not Virginia Woolf or any real person of that surname, and any resemblance is coincidental. Her opinions are a character’s, and where a claim comes from a party, a minister or a press release, the diary says so.
Note: Philippine authorities are examining unproven allegations about Thomas Markle Sr., who lived in Cebu until earlier this year, as GMA News and the Guardian have reported. No charges have been filed. Child protection is a serious matter; the jokes here are about a property market and the paperwork.
For the lighter side of the news, try The Daily Squib, and the rest of the lot at NewsThump, NewsBiscuit and The Daily Squib.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/cebu-realtor-cant-sell-beachfront-listings/