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International Booker Prize 2026 | Winner Predictions · Bookies' Favourite

• 0:10
  Hi. Hello, welcome to the club
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  bookies favorite book club. We read literary shortlists and
• 0:17
  award-winning novels. We're an independent podcast
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  with no official links to the awards that we discuss.
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  We've finished reading the International Booker Prize 2026
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  shortlist. This award recognised the vital
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  work of translation in the UK and Ireland.
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  In this episode, we are discussing what we think is
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  going to win and what books we enjoyed the most.
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  You can follow us on Instagram and Goodreads at Bookie's
• 0:40
  Favorite Book Club and e-mail us at
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  bookiesfavoritebookclub@gmail.com. And that's favorite with EU.
• 0:46
  All of our socials and e-mail address are in the description.
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  I'm Lucy and I have read all six of the books this year.
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  Notably, there's a little dig to everybody else involved in this
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  project. I didn't think they were as good
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  as last year. I thought that last year had
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  very good books. We shout out to Leopard Skin Hat
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  and also a little shout out to a small book.
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  But I did enjoy a lot of them. Hi I'm Colin at C under score.
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  F under score writes on Instagram and I've read 3 of the
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  books so almost I've read half of them.
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  I know Lucy believes that I am a failure.
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  Umm, but I, uh, generally, I actually liked all the books I
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  did read. Umm, and I think, uh, while I
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  think there was more variety, maybe, I don't know, it wasn't
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  more variety in last year's. It felt more widely spread in
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  terms of themes and experimental novels and stuff.
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  I, I like these a lot more. I think they were more enjoyable
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  to me to read than last year's books.
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  Last year's felt like almost heavier at times and a bit more
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  arduous, and this did feel like a bit lighter, at least the
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  three that I read, which I kind of appreciated, especially when
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  times are dark in the world right now and it's nice to kind
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  of get a breakthrough some reading.
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  I'm broadcast journalist Aaron Rice at Aaron Rice Media and I
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  have completed three books out of the six and I have partially
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  read 2 of the other books out of the six.
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  So all together I have read about 5 books on the list.
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  There's one that I haven't touched and I actually really
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  enjoyed this shortlist this year.
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  Now, I don't think any of them are perfect.
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  None of them are five stars. I think last year had higher
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  highs and lower lows. And all of these are pretty
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  strong though. And I do agree with Colin that
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  and there was a bit more variety in terms of the experimentalism
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  and different voices that we were getting so excited to dive
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  into this conversation about our predictions.
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  Let's quickly run over all of the books that we covered in the
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  order that we covered them. We started off with On Earth As
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  It Is Beneath by Ana Paula Maya, translated from the Portuguese
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  by Padma Veswana and published by Charco Chris.
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  Then we read She Who Remains by Renee Karabash, translated from
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  the Bulgarian by Isidora Angel. It was originally published in
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  Bulgarian in 2018 and published by Pyrenee in 2026.
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  Then we followed it up by reading Taiwan Travelogue by
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  Yang Shangxi, translated from The Mandarin by Lin and
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  published by and other stories. The 4th book that we discussed
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  was The Witch by Marie Anger, translated from the French by
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  Jordan Stump and published by Maclehose Press.
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  Then we read The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran by Sheeta Bazar,
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  translated from German by Ruth Martin.
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  It was originally published in Germany in 2016 and then
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  published by Scribe in 2025. And we finished up our shortlist
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  by reading The Director by Daniel Kalman, translated from
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  the German by Ross Benjamin and published by River Run.
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  So that's the six books from this year's shortlist.
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  Lucy, you're the only one of us that has read every single one.
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  Devotee. Devotee, I have read a mixture
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  of the amounts of of them, some might contain.
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  This. Yeah, and Colin, you have read
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  how many? 3.
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  Three, and Hannah has read five of the six.
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  We are going to rank from our least favorite through to our
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  most favorite. This is not which ones we think
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  will win. That will come next.
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  Well, let's start with our rankings.
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  So let's rank from the bottom up.
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  So number six, Lucy, you're the only person who's read all six,
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  so you can take it away. I feel really horrible saying
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  this because it is literally like the the bottom of my pack
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  is all kind of together. But my least favorite, and it
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  took me so long to read it, was The Nights are Quiet in Tehran.
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  And I think that's quite controversial.
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  I don't think very many people have put that in the last place
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  I there's something happened. I just didn't gel with it.
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  It wasn't for me. So that's my number six.
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  So my number 5 is going to be The Witch.
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  I thought it was a fun little book.
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  Like I didn't hate it, but I just don't think it was fully
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  there. I don't think it was a completed
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  story. I didn't get it and I was kind
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  of disappointed with the pitch that I was sold. #5 is the
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  director. Yeah, I again, it didn't capture
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  me massively and I didn't think, oh, that's shed any new light on
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  anything or enlighten me in any way massively.
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  So I the writing was very the writing was good.
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  But yeah, I just, I, I thought, I find I could have taken that
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  and left at the various points in the book.
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  At #5 I'm going to give it to the witch.
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  It was fine and I like the writing style in it a lot, but I
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  feel like it was just missing something for me.
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  My 4th favorite I am going to go with the Knights are Quiet in
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  Tehran. I did enjoy it, I really did
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  enjoy it and but the story does taper off after the the first
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  part and I have found myself forgetting more and more details
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  of it the further that I have got from having completed it.
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  This is tough. Now I think my number 4 is Talan
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  Travelogue and it surprised me and how enjoyable I found it.
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  And this is like, yeah, I think I think it's pretty good.
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  I'd be very happy if it won. I think it's interesting.
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  It's a good book. I don't think it will win, but I
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  would be happy with it winning. But I like, I didn't mass like
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  it wasn't a massively amazing book, but I still think it was
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  very well read and it was very, very well written and very
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  enjoyable. And yeah, I read it well. #4 I'm
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  going to give it to She Who Remains our My discussion with
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  Lucy made me really think about how much I liked the first half.
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  The second-half got a bit weird but really enjoyed that one in
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  the end and especially when we chatted about it, it made me
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  think about it a bit more so given that #4.
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  I think the witch is my #3 I think I liked the vibes, but I
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  do think it was kind of missing something a bit more.
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  I don't think I was sold the wrong pitch.
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  I just think like, do you know, it is a cool idea, but it just
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  didn't really go anywhere. Really too exciting.
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  My number 3 is going to be Taiwan Travelogue.
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  It was good. It was better than I was
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  expecting it to be. It just isn't my kind of book,
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  but it's it's a decent read. This is where it gets, this is
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  where it gets really tough for me because these three I think
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  are all almost the same level to me.
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  I'm really struggling because I'm to be honest, I'm off the
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  cuff, I keep changing. I was writing down like orders
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  and things for things earlier and I couldn't like agree with
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  myself in an order. So I'm just winging it now.
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  I think I'm going to have to go for On Earth as it is beneath.
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  I don't know that I think it's worse than my top two in any
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  real way because I really enjoyed it and I actually think
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  it has these deeper themes and stuff.
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  Like I think it's a really excellent book, but I maybe
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  think it's missing something. I think the other two maybe
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  have. So for #3 I'm going to give it
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  to On Earth as it is beneath. I really, really enjoyed this
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  one, really liked it. And I really want to even read
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  the book before that and to get to know these characters like
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  slightly more. So I'm sad that I'm not giving a
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  number one, but there's reasons for this.
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  But I really enjoyed this. I think my #2 pick is going to
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  be unearthed as it is beneath, which therefore means the
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  director is my number one pick, which I know Lucy's probably
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  probably reaging on me for. But I think this is kind of how
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  it goes with me and Lucy. We tend to like the complete
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  opposite ends of the scale with these different books when we
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  sometimes agree, but I do think on earth that is as it is.
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  Beneath was a fun read and I really like some of the ideas in
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  it. But again, I think it was just
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  missing something as well. There was like something not
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  quite there. It was almost too short.
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  And it was this sort of like Plot Summary in which we
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  discussed a lot about in the actual episode.
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  And then the reason I think the director is up there is because
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  it just kept me engaged. I generally like Hollywood
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  stories, like I do click with those like actors and directors
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  and I love the creative process. And I think that's what made a
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  kind of win out for me. Again, I think it's an imperfect
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  story and I think retreading like some like, you know, Nazi
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  storylines and stuff like this, it is something I've read
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  before, but I just enjoyed it I think overall, mostly because
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  that's kind of where my my personal interests lie.
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  It's the return of the hive mind.
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  Colin, me and you both ranked the which is our lowest read,
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  and my number 2 is going to be On Earth As It Is Beneath and my
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  number 1 is going to be the director.
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  Now, I haven't finished the director, so just a caveat on
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  that, but I will be finishing it On Earth As It Is Beneath, I
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  think is a fun little book. I don't have any issues with it,
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  which is why it ranked so high, but overall, it's like an action
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  movie in a book. There's not a ton more to it,
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  but what it does, it does extremely well.
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  I don't think it's pretending to be anything that it's not.
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  So that means that the director is my favorite and I was
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  surprised at how much I was enjoying it.
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  The actual integration of people from history.
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  I think that added an extra layer to it that I wasn't
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  expecting until we had our discussion, so that just made me
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  enjoy it even more. I think you might be surprised
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  at this. OK, so I'm going to put The
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  Witch in at #2 I think that The Witch has, I love the writing,
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  like absolutely loved it. But I do think it is missing
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  something. I think that there was like
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  pockets of like brilliance in it, but then it wasn't
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  necessarily the most coherent thing.
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  And then this, this is controversial because of how
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  much I slated it and the episode about it.
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  But I put my number one is she who remains.
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  I think it's stayed with me. I think that I still agree that
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  the second part, there's there's no need for it.
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  And but that first part, the poeticness, the the fact you're
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  completely immersed into a completely different culture and
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  a world that you would never like, you would never see or
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  hear about. It's very rare that sworn
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  virgins are mentioned in the news and they're kind of almost
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  like a an interest piece of like, oh, this is how some
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  people in the world are living and actually to be transported
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  into that world. And the way she tells the story
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  using so few words, especially the start.
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  I mean, for me, the only reason it's not like a five star book
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  is just purely because the second part was spelling out
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  things that we didn't need to know.
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  I think it's stuck with me as like a, wow, that's actually an
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  excellent piece of fiction. So that's why my number one is
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  She Who Remains. #2 I'm surprised I'm saying this, but
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  Taiwan travelogue because at the time I thought it was really
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  hard to get into at moments and it felt a bit long.
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  But on reflection, and I've been thinking about it for the last
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  week or so, I I did enjoy it. And when we chatted about it, I
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  think I felt like I really enjoyed it even more.
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  So I'm going to give that my number two spot.
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  And guys, if you've listened to the podcast, it is no surprise
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  that number 1 is going to be the nights are quite interad.
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  I adore this book. I love it.
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  I know the writing is not as good as say, like the witch, but
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  the story just yeah, it's really stuck with me because I'd lost
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  all hope that the international Booker was going to have
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  something this year that stuck with me.
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  But we hit it out of the bag at the last minute.
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  So my number one is the nights are quiet in Tehran.
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  So that's our rankings. What do we all think of of what
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  each other picked? I think it's questionable as
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  well that you both read the man novel.
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  The Man novel. The novel written by a man
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  that's just very, very. Why were the rest all written by
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  women? Yeah, just ver just notable
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  notable, I think. And it's, it's interesting that
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  you've put that as #1 as well. That's just interesting, isn't
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  it? It's just very interesting.
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  We can't help if the man's book was our favorite.
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  It's the Man Booker Prize, Lucy. Not anymore, Colin, We got rid
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  of the man. This isn't a women's prize for
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  fiction. Lucy I.
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  Don't know, I think you'd find a way to to vote a man number one
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  or not. I just think, I think it's
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  notable for all the podcast listeners that male men, Colin
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  and Aaron, Male men, 2 meals, 2 Male men Colin, both read the
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  man's book and I remember speaking to you wasn't going
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  well. I need to make sure I've read
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  the man's book. Both of you said that,
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  especially Colin. Yeah, definitely me, I'll tell
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  you that. I think I'm pretty sure last
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  year Lucy I put a woman book as the my #1.
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  That's pretty. That's very true, Colin, that
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  is. True.
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  So yeah. So you can't be sexist.
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  I can't possibly. No, no, I just, yeah.
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  And I think it's notable that I'd said to Colin before the
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  podcast started, I was like, oh, there's a book called She Who
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  Remains, and Colin's like she. She hardly nowhere I'll.
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  Really, who remains if you do keep this in Aaron?
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  Just a reminder that I actually don't think that either of you
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  are sexist, but it is notable. It is notable.
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  Good. I'm glad you said that Lucy.
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  So now that we've shared our rankings on our favourites,
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  let's all reveal what books we think will actually win the
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  prize later today. So I mean, I've only read half
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  of them, but I actually think none of the books I read are
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  going to be wonders. I just feel like they just don't
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  seem like they are going to hit the mark.
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  Just the the subject matter and and the sort of stories that the
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  others tell son, like they more they're more fitting of like
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  winning this. Not that I think that that means
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  they're better, but I think just in the track record of the
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  Booker Prize or the international book or press, I
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  think probably something like The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran,
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  even though I've been read, I just have a feeling that that
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  kind of story could, could win. So I'm kind of between 2:00.
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  So I'm between. The nights are quiet in Tehran.
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  I mean, the chances are that there might not win because it's
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  too, too topical. If that's a.
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  Thing, you know, it's maybe a bit too, I don't want to say
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  obvious, but like maybe it is a bit too obvious.
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  So I actually think I think that she Who Remains has a good
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  chance of winning. Do I think it will win?
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  Probably, probably not because I'm guessing it might win.
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  So I actually, to be honest, would just put my money on
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  whatever Aaron says. I think of the three of us that
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  will have the highest chance of winning.
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  Lucy, I'm kind of similar to you and where I am between two books
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  for which I think will win. I'm only saying this in case my
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  second choice wins. And then I could say, look, I
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  was, I was stuck between the two.
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  So that I, I basically won. So my my second choice is the
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  Nights are Quiet in Tehran. The book that I think will
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  actually win is Taiwan Travelogue.
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  And I have the same reasoning for both of these.
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  And I've talked about this and throughout this shortlist
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  looking back on last year, and the winner was Heartlamp, which
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  was a very specific story told from somebody who lived within
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  that culture. So I it kind of changed my
• 17:37
  understanding of this award. Obviously it's a translation
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  prize. So I think last year at least,
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  the panel of judges had selected the book that was the most
• 17:53
  unique and most English translation could not have
• 17:57
  existed without the previous original language version.
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  I have one week question for you, Aaron.
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  You do know it's it's different judges this year?
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  I do know it's different judges so I'm just going based off of
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  last year, but who knows what the judges will will be thinking
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  this year. And I think that both Taiwan
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  Travelogue and The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran give us a very
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  specific look into those cultures.
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  They deal with translation, they deal with language.
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  Because this is a translation prize.
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  I think that's appealing to what the judges will be looking for.
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  So that is why my choice for which I think will win is Taiwan
• 18:44
  Travelogue. I think maybe She Who Remains or
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  Taiwan Travelogue might be the winner, but in my heart, the
• 18:52
  real winner this year of the International Booker is the
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  Nights are Quiet in Tehran. I actually think I'd be really
• 18:58
  surprised at Taiwan Travelogue 1 and I, I, but I'm backing you,
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  Aaron. Why would you be surprised?
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  I think it's too like, I think it does deal with like
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  colonialism and it almost skirts around like really getting
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  massively deep into certain issues.
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  And I'm kind of like usually they kind of go for something a
• 19:17
  bit more like, OK, that's right at the heart of what's
• 19:20
  happening. But like in saying that, I
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  don't, I don't think that Taiwan travelogue is like shallow by
• 19:25
  any means. I just mean that it's kind of
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  like it's like A at times quite very well, times very like
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  lighthearted kind of skip through colonized Taiwan.
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  It doesn't. To me, it doesn't fit in with
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  the other books previously that have won.
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  Again, it's five random people. I think it's almost impossible
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  to guess what's going to win, which is why bookies don't
• 19:45
  really have very good odds on these kind of things.
• 19:47
  Well, Speaking of. The Bookies odds Let's take a
• 19:49
  look and see what the bookies are predicting for which book
• 19:55
  will win Tai Taiwan. Travelogues 5 to 2 nights are
• 19:59
  quiet in trance 3 to 1, director 4 to 1 and she remains 5 to one.
• 20:03
  I'm surprised she remains so far down.
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  This is what I mean. I shouldn't be trying to do
• 20:08
  these prizes. Check back in with us later this
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  week and we will bring you a reaction episode to the winning
• 20:15
  novel. Join the book.
• 20:16
  Club and read along with us if you enjoyed.
• 20:18
  Our discussion on the shortlist Go back and check out all of the
• 20:22
  episodes We have discussed every book on the shortlist in depth.
• 20:27
  Our Socials. And e-mail are in the
• 20:28
  description. Share your thoughts on the
• 20:30
  shortlist and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
• 20:33
  And rate US at five stars. Also tell.
• 20:36
  Us which book you want to win and tell us your ranking of the
• 20:40
  entire shortlist bookies. Out, goodbye.
• 20:46
  Bye, bye, bye.