Judges announced for the Goldsmiths Prize 2026
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Writer and translator Kate Briggs, novelist Hari Kunzru, and former Evening Standard Literary Editor David Sexton join Chair of Judges Francis Spufford on the panel.
Left to right: Hari Kunzru, Kate Briggs, Francis Spufford and David Sexton make up the panel
Now in its fourteenth year, the £10,000 prize rewards fiction that breaks the mould and extends the possibility of the novel.
The panel will be chaired by Professor of Creative Writing Francis Spufford, author of four novels. ‘Golden Hill’ won the Costa First Novel Award, ‘Light Perpetual’ was longlisted for the Booker, and ‘Cahokia Jazz’ won the Sidewise Award for alternative history. His latest novel ‘Nonesuch’ - a historical fantasy set during the Blitz - is due to be released in February.
Professor Spufford is joined by writers Kate Briggs, Hari Kunzru and David Sexton on the panel.
By celebrating and rewarding innovation in the form of the novel, the Goldsmiths Prize keeps the novel what it should always be: new.
Professor Francis Spufford, Chair of Judges
Kate Briggs, a translator and writer who co-runs Short Pieces That Move! micro-press, was awarded the 2021 Windham Campbell Prize for non-fiction. She is the author of ‘This Little Art’ about literary translation and her first novel ‘The Long Form’ was shortlisted for the 2023 Goldsmiths Prize.
Hari Kunzru is the author of seven novels, including ‘Gods Without Men’, ‘White Tears’, ‘Red Pill’ and ‘Blue Ruin’, and a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books, Harper’s and the New York Times. He teaches at New York University.
Literary Editor of the London Evening Standard between 1997-2020 and a judge for the Booker Prize in 2005, David Sexton currently reviews films for the New Statesman.
The Goldsmiths Prize was launched in association with the New Statesman in 2013 with the goal of celebrating the creative daring of Goldsmiths and to reward fiction that embodies the spirit of the invention that characterises the novel at its best.
Tanjil Rashid, Culture Editor at The New Statesman, said, “For over a century, literature has been at the heart of The New Statesman, and our collaboration with the Goldsmiths Prize is one of the most important things we do to continue to contribute to a flourishing literary culture.”
The 2026 shortlist will be announced in autumn and the winner will be revealed on 4 November.
Find out more about the Goldsmiths Prize and read more about last year’s winner, We Live Here Now by C.D. Rose