Marlon James Returns to the Booker Longlist with The Disappearers, a 640-Page Novel on Queer Life Under Siege in Jamaica
Marlon James, who won the Booker Prize in 2015 for A Brief History of Seven Killings, is back on the 2026 longlist with a 640-page novel set in the Jamaica he grew up in. The Disappearers — published in the UK by Hamish Hamilton and in the US by Riverhead Books at a hardcover price of US$32.00 — mounts an exposé of homophobia in Aids-era Kingston, according to The Guardian's review, published on 24 August 2026.
The Booker longlist, announced in late July, includes 13 titles. James is one of two previous winners on it, alongside Douglas Stuart, who won in 2020 for Shuggie Bain. Elizabeth Strout, previously shortlisted, also appears, as do ten authors longlisted for the first time, the Booker Prize website states.
The novel's defining event is a mob attack on eight queer men who had gathered to stage Fortune and Men's Eyes, the 1967 gay prison play by the Canadian playwright John Herbert. Part of the story is told through the diary entries of Eddy Porteous, described by the reviewer as a "white-ish" Belgian Jamaican college student. James's own website calls the book a propulsive novel about the murder of a gay man in 1980s Jamaica and its tragic consequences, while the Booker Prize website describes it as "both a dramatic page-turner and an unflinching exploration of queer life in Jamaica during the 1980s and 1990s."
James was born in Kingston, Jamaica — the same city where The Disappearers is set. His earlier work includes The Book of Night Women and the Dark Star fantasy trilogy, but he remains best known for Seven Killings, a polyphonic novel built around the attempted assassination of Bob Marley, which won him the Booker eleven years ago.
The US release of The Disappearers is set for 1 September 2026, with the UK edition following from Hamish Hamilton on 17 September. The Booker longlisting gives the novel a platform weeks before either edition reaches shelves — the longlist was reported by The Guardian on 28 July. An extract from the novel has already been published on the Booker Prize website.
The Booker Prize — the leading English-language literary award for fiction, open to novels published in the UK or Ireland — carries a £50,000 purse for the winner and a substantial sales lift for every title that makes the longlist of thirteen, the shortlist of six, or the final prize. The 2026 shortlist and winner will be announced later in the year.
