Congratulations to Emma Cline, whose forthcoming novel SWITZY (Random House US, Chatto and Windus UK) is one of the “Booker Dozen”: the thirteen titles longlisted for the 2026 Booker Prize, the UK’s most prestigious literary award.
The 2026 judges for the prize wrote the following about the novel:
“We live in a time ruled by overpowered and undersocialised wealthy boy kings; Emma Cline’s mordant novel considers what, if anything, remains at the end of one such luxurious yet lonely life. David is a retired American business executive with dementia who decides to be euthanised in a Swiss clinic. As he voyages across Europe, fuzzy memories from his life slip in and out of his consciousness. There are final gestures towards intimacy with family and friends, and a whimsical cartoon becomes a symbol of a bygone childhood. What makes a life? Cline writes vividly about the trappings of the elite – the private jets, the heirloom watches, all that time spent in the office – as well as their sad social cost in a story that feels immersive, elegiac, and very real. As one of us put it: ‘I travel a lot, and know these guys.’”
—2026 Booker Prize judges’ panel
The Booker shortlist will be announced September 22nd, before a November 9th ceremony names the award recipient.
Read more about the 2026 Booker Prize here, and discover Emma Cline’s SWITZY here.
