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Turkish-American writer Kenan Orhan has secured a place on the Booker Prize 2026 longlist with his debut novel, The Renovation, joining a field of 13 authors competing for one of the literary world's most prestigious awards.
Set partly around the experiences of a migrant from Türkiye living in Italy, the novel brings together themes of exile, memory, family, political history and belonging. It follows a woman whose ordinary home renovation takes a surreal turn when a Turkish prison cell appears inside her apartment.
Orhan joins established literary figures including Pulitzer Prize-winning American author Elizabeth Strout, Scottish-American writer Douglas Stuart, who won the Booker Prize in 2020, and Jamaican novelist Marlon James, the award's 2015 winner. Poet and debut novelist Rebecca Perry has also made the longlist.
The six-title shortlist is scheduled to be announced on Sept. 22, while the winner will be revealed on Nov. 9.
The Booker Prize considers novels written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland, regardless of the nationality of their authors.
Historian and author Professor Mary Beard, who chairs the 2026 judging panel, described the 13 nominated novels as "magnificent."
"We are confident that the books on our longlist offer something for everyone," Beard said.
Orhan is not the first author of Turkish origin to gain recognition from the award. Elif Safak reached the Booker Prize shortlist in 2019 with "10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World."
However, Orhan's inclusion marks a major milestone in a literary career that has increasingly focused on the experiences of the Turkish diaspora and the complicated relationship between migration, identity and memory.
Orhan lives in the U.S. state of Kansas and grew up in a family with Turkish roots on his mother's side.
According to interviews published by English-language literary outlets, Orhan and his siblings were raised in what he has described as a "half-Turkish" household. His family travelled to Türkiye almost every summer to visit relatives in Istanbul.
These visits allowed him to look at Türkiye from both inside and outside the country, shaping a perspective that later became central to his fiction.
Istanbul and Türkiye now stand at the heart of much of his literary work. His stories frequently take up the Turkish diaspora, exile, political history, family connections and the search for belonging.
For Orhan, writing has also developed into a way of working through his Turkish identity, understanding his family roots and keeping up his connection with Türkiye.
The Renovation, which has not yet been published in Türkiye, revolves around Dilara, a migrant from Türkiye who is living in Italy.
Dilara begins renovating her apartment so she can care for her father, who has dementia. Expecting to have a new bathroom installed, she instead discovers that a Turkish prison cell has been built inside her home.
She initially assumes that the cell is the result of a construction mistake. As the story unfolds, however, she becomes increasingly drawn to both the structure and the political and personal past it represents.
Through the cell, Dilara begins to reconnect with her homeland and her own history. At the same time, she must deal with her father's worsening condition, financial pressure and growing problems within her marriage.
The novel blends realistic and surreal elements to explore grief, exile, politics and love, while turning the apartment into a space where private hardship and collective memory come together.
In an interview published by the website Who Even Reads, Orhan explained that the novel is concerned not only with a physical prison but also with the different kinds of "prisons" people may find themselves trapped inside throughout their lives.
Before publishing "The Renovation," Orhan gained attention through his short stories.
His 2023 collection, "I Am My Country," was named a finalist for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize and selected for the longlist of The Story Prize.
His fiction has appeared in prominent English-language literary publications including The Atlantic, The Paris Review and The Common.
His stories have also been included in respected literary collections such as The O. Henry Prize Stories and The Best American Short Stories.
That body of work has established Orhan as a writer interested in the personal consequences of displacement and political change, themes he has now carried over into his first novel.
The Booker Prize 2026 longlist consists of "The Shadow of the Object" by Chloe Aridjis, "Switzy" by Emma Cline, "Helen of Nowhere" by Makenna Goodman, "The End of Everything" by M. John Harrison, "The Disappearers" by Marlon James and "Black Bag" by Luke Kennard.
The list continues with Orhan's "The Renovation," "May We Feed the King" by Rebecca Perry, "The Palm House" by Gwendoline Riley, "The Things We Never Say" by Elizabeth Strout, "John of John" by Douglas Stuart, "All Them Dogs" by Djamel White and "The Vivisectors" by Missouri Williams.
The September shortlist announcement will narrow the field from 13 novels to six before the 2026 winner is named in November.
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