The RAS Korean Literature Club discussion
Korean contenders for the 2026 International Booker Prize: list, discussion, speculation
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Mod
NOTE: This thread is meant to be a "Korean novel-in-translation only" supplement to the discussion going on elsewhere at GoodReads:
"2026 International Booker Prize speculation: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
(Thread started in April 2025, by Paul Fulchur; there are 24 replies as of this writing, no mention, however, of Korean authors/novels.)
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The RAS Korean Literature Club's more-or-less active members today number in the low dozens. (Most not on GoodReads; it is an in-person group). Adding passive members, past members no longer active, and those in occasional contact via any method, the number is well into the three-digit range.
The reason I say this here is: the perspectives on this question of Korean novels in the International Booker Prize 2026 may be different from those you'd see elsewhere.
We'll see what people have to say, between now and May 2026 when the final-winner is announced.
All replies and opinions welcome! (The greater portion of chatter in this Korean Literature Club occurs outside GoodReads; but if anything on the International Booker Prize 2026 comes up, I'll try to relay it and re-post it, here, when I can.)
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Mod
There are currently known to be eighty-some books eligible for the 2026 International Booker Prize.
Amazingly, 15 of them are Korean. That means around one-in-six of the 2026 International Booker Prize-eligible books are Korean.
If this ratio holds, random-chance probability gives us a 92%+ chance that at least one of the longlisted books for 2026 will be a translation from Korean. (That's given that there are to be thirteen longlisted books when the list is announced in late-February 2026. ---> 1-[15/84] = 0.8215; [0.8215^13] = 7.75% is the probability of zero Korean titles in the 13-book longlist.)
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GoodReads members are crowd-sourcing a rolling list of books eligible books for consideration for the prize:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...
I'll post. right after this, the 15 Korean titles that are known so far.
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Mod
KOREAN NOVELS-IN-TRANSLATION ELIGIBLE FOR THE 2026 INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE
(a running list; eligibility: must be translated from Korean and published by a UK publisher between May 2025 thru April 2026)
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Summary list:
(1.) The Hole by Hye-young Pyun (tr. Sora Kim-Russell);
(2.) Red Sword by Bora Chung (tr. Anton Hur);
(3.) Hunger by Choi Jin-young (tr. Soje);
(4.) Failed Summer Vacation by Heuijung Hur (tr. Paige Aniyah Morris);
(5.) Blowfish by Kyung-ran Jo (tr. Chi Young Kim);
(6.) Soyangri Book Kitchen by Kim Jee-hye (tr. Shanna Tan);
(7.) Chinatown by Oh Jung Hee (tr. Bruce Fulton);
(8.) Capitalists Must Starve by Park Seo-ryeon (tr. Anton Hur);
(9.) Broccoli Punch by Lee Yuri (tr. Amber HJ Kim);
(10.) The Midnight Shift by Cheon Seon-ran (tr. Gene Png);
(11.) The Second Chance Convenience Store by Kim Ho-yeon (tr. Janet Hong);
(12.) If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light by Kim Cho-yeop (tr. Anton Hur);
(13.) A Midnight Pastry Shop Called Hwawoldang by Lee Onhwa (tr. Slin Jung);
(14.) To the Moon by Jang Ryujin (tr. Sean Lin Halbert);
(15.) Roadkill by Amil (tr. Archana Madhavan).
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(1.) THE HOLE
- genre: Mystery, Thriller, Horror
- author: Hye-young Pyun;
- translator: Sora Kim-Russell;
- publisher: Doubleday [Penguin UK];
- publication date: late-July 2025.
- original publication in English: August 2017 in the US by Arcade Publishing (an imprint of minor-publisher Skyhorse).
- read by the RAS Korean Literature Club? YES! -- in October 2018. (See: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...).
- original book info: title: <홀>; author: 편혜영; publisher: 문학과지성사; original publication in Korean: March 2016.
-- -- Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
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(2.) RED SWORD
- genre: science fiction;
- author: Bora Chung;
- translator: Anton Hur;
- publisher: Honford Star [UK];
- publication date: May 2025;
- original publication in English: (same)
- read by the RAS Korean Literature Club? YES! -- for June 2025 session (see: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...).
- original book info: title: <붉은 칼>; author: 정보라; publisher: 아작; original publication in Korean: January 2019.
-- -- Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
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(3.) HUNGER
- genre: Horror
- author: Choi Jin-young
- translator: Soje [?]
- publisher: Brazen [UK]
- publication date: June 2025
- original publication in English: (same)
- read by the RAS Korean Literature Club? No.
- original book info: title: <구의 증명>; author: 최진영; publisher: 은행나무; original publication in Korean: March 2015.
-- -- Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
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(4.) FAILED SUMMER VACATION
- genre: Science fiction, fantasy, speculative fiction;
- author: Heuijung Hur;
- translator: Paige Aniyah Morris;
- publisher: Scratch Books [UK];
- publication date: June 2025;
- original publication in English (same);
- read by the RAS Korean Literature Club? No.
- original book info: title: <실패한 여름휴가>; author: 허희정; publisher: 문학과지성사; original publication in Korean: June 2020.
-- -- Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
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(5.) BLOWFISH
- genre: Literary Fiction;
- author: Kyung-ran Jo;
- translator: Chi Young Kim;
- publisher: Astra House;
- publication date: July 2025;
- original publication in English: (same?);
- read by the RAS Korean Literature Club? No.
- original book info: title: <복어>; author: 조경란; publisher: 문학동네; original publication in Korean: 2010.
-- -- Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
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(6.) SOYANGRI BOOK KITCHEN
- genre: Healing Fiction;
- author: Kim Jee-hye;
- translator: Shanna Tan;
- publisher: Vintage [?];
- publication date: October 2025;
- original publication in English: (same);
- read by the RAS Korean Literature Club? No.
- original book info: title: <책들의 부엌>; author: 김지혜; publisher: 팩토리나인; original publication in Korean: May 2022.
-- -- Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
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(7.) CHINATOWN
- genre: Bildungsroman / Classic;
- author: Oh Jung Hee;
- translator: Bruce Fulton;
- publisher: Penguin Classics [UK];
- publication date: July 2025;
- original publication in English: 2012, Asia Publishers [Seoul];
- read by the RAS Korean Literature Club? .
- original book info: title: <중국인 거리>; author: 오정희 ; publisher: 아시아출판사 (2012); original publication in Korean: 2004/2012.
-- -- Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
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(8.) CAPITALISTS MUST STARVE
- genre: Historical Fiction [early 1930s];
- author: Park Seo-ryeon;
- translator: Anton Hur;
- publisher: Tilted Axis Press;
- publication date: September 2025;
- original publication in English: (same);
- read by the RAS Korean Literature Club? No, but the novel is being compared to RASKLC's July 2025 book Pachinko (both said to have "sweeping historical vision" and be "feminist historical novel[s]," per the London Korean Links).
- original book info: title: <체공녀 강주룡>; author: 박서련; publisher: 한겨레출판사; original publication in Korean: Nov. 2024.
-- -- Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
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(9.) BROCCOLI PUNCH
- genre: Fantasy, Surrealist;
- author: Lee Yuri;
- translator: Amber HJ Kim;
- publisher: Heloise Press [UK];
- publication date: June 2025;
- original publication in English: (same);
- read by the RAS Korean Literature Club? No.
- original book info: title: <브로콜리 펀치>; author: 이유리; publisher: 문학과지성사; original publication in Korean: October 2021.
-- -- Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
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(10.) THE MIDNIGHT SHIFT
- genre: Horror, Fantasy;
- author: Cheon Seon-ran;
- translator: Gene Png;
- publisher: Bloomsbury [UK];
- publication date: August 2025;
- original publication in English: ;
- read by the RAS Korean Literature Club? No.
- original book info: title: <밤에 찾아오는 구원자>; author:
천선란; publisher: 안전가옥 [?]; original publication in Korean: June 2021.
-- -- Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
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(11.) THE SECOND CHANCE CONVENIENCE STORE
- genre: Healing Fiction;
- author: Kim Ho-yeon;
- translator: Janet Hong;
- publisher: Harper Perennial [UK];
- publication date: June 2025;
- original publication in English: (same?)
- read by the RAS Korean Literature Club? No.
- original book info: title: <불편한 편의점 1>; author: 김호연; publisher: 나무옆의자 [?]; original publication in Korean: April 2021.
-- -- Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
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(12.) IF WE CANNOT GO AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT
- genre: Science Fiction;
- author: Kim Choyeop;
- translator: Anton Hur;
- publisher: S&S/Saga Press [UK];
- publication date: April 2026;
- original publication in English: (same);
- read by the RAS Korean Literature Club? No.
- original book info: title: <우리가 빛의 속도로 갈 수 없다면>; author:
김초엽; publisher: 허블; original publication in Korean: June 2019.
-- -- Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
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(13.) A MIDNIGHT PASTRY SHOP CALLED HWAWOLDANG
- genre: Healing Fiction;
- author: Lee Onhwa;
- translator: Slin Jung;
- publisher: Penguin [UK];
- publication date: November 2025;
- original publication in English: (same);
- read by the RAS Korean Literature Club? No.
- original book info: title: <시간이 멈춰 선 화과자점, 화월당입니다>; author: 이온화; publisher: 다이브; original publication in Korean: December 2024.
-- -- Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
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(14.) TO THE MOON
- genre: Romance?;
- author: Jang Ryujin;
- translator: Sean Lin Halbert;
- publisher: Bloomsbury [UK];
- publication date: June 2025;
- original publication in English: (same?);
- read by the RAS Korean Literature Club? No.
- original book info: title: <달까지 가자>; author: 장류진; publisher: 창비; original publication in Korean: April 2021.
-- -- Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
NOTE: To the Moon has been adapted to air as a tv-drama in South Korea starting in September 2025.
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(15.) ROADKILL
- genre: Science Fiction;
- author: Amil;
- translator: Archana Madhavan;
- publisher: Harvill Secker [UK];
- publication date: August 2025;
- original publication in English: (same);
- read by the RAS Korean Literature Club? No.
- original book info: title: <로드킬>; author: 아밀 (said to be pen-name of a 김지현); publisher: 비채; original publication in Korean: July 2021.
-- -- Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
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Mod
The mid-2025 to mid-2026 Korean-to-English-translation published books in the UK by primary genre, as per the running list so far:
- Science Fiction: 4 / 15
- Healing Fiction: 3 / 15
- Horror: 3 / 15
- Fantasy: 1 / 15
- Historical Fiction: 1 / 15 [it's 1930s Pyongyang; see No.8 on list.]
- Classic (Bildungsroman): 1 / 15
- General literary fiction: 1 / 15 (No.5)
- Romance?: 1 / 15 (No. 14; it's being published in English because the novel has been converted into a tv-series this year and is therefore expected to sell; not, however, likely of real interest to the Booker people).
We get some good sense, from that breakdown, of the current trend in Korean-to-English translated-fiction.
With the understanding in mind that this is a "lagging indicator": between publishers' noticing of the trend in the market and initial publication, there is a certain time-lag. That is true always and everywhere, but in our case it's compounded by the translation and marketing process. This I think will add up to at least a full year, and probably more, of lag between Korean trend --> publication in English.
(From publication to median point of reader-consumption will add on another time-lag, of uncertain length depending on many factors.)
---> Lesson 1: Healing Fiction is still strong, but I cannot imagine anything from the genre winning the International Booker Prize. Even being longlisted would be a surprise.
---> Lesson 2: The Science Fiction (SF) trend in Korean literature (which emerged almost out of nowhere in the late 2010s and found its footing in the early 2020s) and now in Korean-to-English translated-fiction, may today already have the leading spot; that is to say, it may have passed Healing Fiction.
---> Lesson 3: Horror novels are doing well, but probably because of the overlap with Fantasy. Rising to three publications is due to the latecomer republishing of Hole in the UK. (Previously only published in the US, it seems, with limited reach at the time.)
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The Horror-Fantasy overlap applies to this year's Cheon Seon-ran novel. (See No.10 on the list.) Cheon Seon-ran is author of the well-received A Thousand Blues, put out in English earlier this year (in the 2024-25 Booker timeframe). I can see certain reasons why some judge-panels might incline towards that kind of writer or book.
QUASI-PREDICTION: I wouldn't be surprised if Cheon Seon-ran is at least longlisted in 2026. That's a guess based on zero knowledge of her book, except her reputation and genre. You read it here first, timestamped July 2025. // Note: Not a full prediction; rather, an "I wouldn't be surprised if" coward's prediction. (I have her Thousand Blues book somewhere and when I have time will read it to update my prediction depending on how much I agree, or not, with the consensus that it's good.)
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Korean SF novels overlap with fantasy. It's hard to definitely distinguish them. I'm not sure whether SF-oriented novels are more likely to me to do well in the Booker competition.
We do have the precedent of Bora Chung's watershed 2022 shortlisting for the International Booker Prize, with her mixed-genre Cursed Bunny. It was mainly Fantasy, some of the stories certainly with elements of Science Fiction. The GoodReads entry for Cursed Bunny also classes it as Horror, which is at-most secondary (in my view) but not absent especially in one or two of the stories towards the end.
Incidentally, and speaking of Bora Chung's Korean-to-English translations... Here is another data-point for you:
The number of the 2025-26 books translated by Anton Hur is: 3 / 15.
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Hmmm. I have nothing intelligent to say on this topic other than that I did read book 11 on the above list and I'm irritated to see the English translation is so lame. "The Inconvenient Convenience Store" would exactly reflect the Korean title and show some of the books humor as well as the reality that the convenience store in question wasn't very well stocked and was less nice than other convenience stores.
I'm surprised Hole and Chinatown haven't been published in the UK before.
Hannah wrote: "Hmmm. I have nothing intelligent to say on this topic other than that I did read book 11 on the above list and I'm irritated to see the English translation is so lame. "The Inconvenient Convenience..."I've generally stopped reading healing lit, but Janet Hong is a veteran translator with many great books to her credit. Plus the titles of translations, at least in the Anglophone world, are often imposed by the publisher. In this case "Second Chance Convenience Store" clearly signals healing lit whereas "Inconvenient Convenience Store" simply suggests humor and maybe a bit of whimsy. Could be wrong but that's my guess.
Hannah wrote: "Hmmm. ..."BTW I just remembered a clear example of calculated translation retitling that I ran across a couple days ago. It's Counsel Culture ()original 2022), tr. by Jaimie Chang (Restless Books [a small activistic US publisher], 2024). The original title is Gyeongcheong '(attentive) listening' as in gyeongcheonghada. It is approximately rendered by English 'counsel' (for 'counseling'), which is the main character's profession, but then 'culture' is added call up "cancel culture", which the character has fallen victim to. The new title does not in itself clearly indicate what kind of book the work is, but the two cats on the cover, the presence of at least one cat in the story, and the simple language of the narrative leave little doubt that it's been identified by the publisher and positioned as yet another piece of healing lit, in tghis case one loosely comparable to Baek Sehee, Want to Die But I Want to Eat Tteokbokki (2018), tr. Anton Hur (Bloomsbury, 2022).
Yes, I agree the English title is signaling that it's a healing book but the signal seems a bit overbearing and makes the book seem more one-dimensional than it deserves. Probably is something from the publisher just like authors don't have control over the titles of their own newspaper articles, so I've heard. I wouldn't have bothered to read the looking at the English title, but when I first encountered it a few years ago I saw it and read it in the original Korean. I don't tend to like healing literature but I did like this book, perhaps because when I read it I was unaware it was supposed to be healing me, and didn't realize people would be given second chances until I uncovered that myself. The Counsel Culture title is clever I guess, but sometimes I get tired of the mental energy it takes me to talk about media in both languages when titles are different. This happens all the time with kdramas and movies.
I've read:(1.) The Hole by Hye-young Pyun (tr. Sora Kim-Russell);
(2.) Red Sword by Bora Chung (tr. Anton Hur);
(3.) Hunger by Choi Jin-young (tr. Soje);
(4.) Failed Summer Vacation by Heuijung Hur (tr. Paige Aniyah Morris);
(5.) Blowfish by Kyung-ran Jo (tr. Chi Young Kim);
(6.) Soyangri Book Kitchen by Kim Jee-hye (tr. Shanna Tan);
(9.) Broccoli Punch by Lee Yuri (tr. Amber HJ Kim);
(10.) The Midnight Shift by Cheon Seon-ran (tr. Gene Png);
(11.) The Second Chance Convenience Store by Kim Ho-yeon (tr. Janet Hong);
(13.) A Midnight Pastry Shop Called Hwawoldang by Lee Onhwa (tr. Slin Jung);
(14.) To the Moon by Jang Ryujin (tr. Sean Lin Halbert);
Awaiting publication of:
(7.) Chinatown by Oh Jung Hee (tr. Bruce Fulton);
(8.) Capitalists Must Starve by Park Seo-ryeon (tr. Anton Hur);
(12.) If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light by Kim Cho-yeop (tr. Anton Hur);
(15.) Roadkill by Amil (tr. Archana Madhavan);
If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light I've seen UK publication date that could slip into May 2026.
What about:Snowglobe 2: The conclusion to the groundbreaking Korean YA thriller
The Wizard's Bakery
Art on Fire - that's published by Scribe UK in September
Petty Lies - Mulholland have a UK imprint, I need to check if they are publishing in UK
Hakuda Photo Studio - from John Murray (apparently out soon)
Hannah wrote: "Yes, I agree the English title is signaling that it's a healing book but the signal seems a bit overbearing and makes the book seem more one-dimensional than it deserves. Probably is something from..."Fair enough. The impression I got from the first blurb I read was that the book had a clear central figure and narrative arc and might be better than the average Korean Healing lit entry. I don't take cats on the cover too seriously, but the cat in the actual story gives me pause... :)
As to retitling the translations of Korean works for salience or market appeal, the practice goes back a long way and includes both “academic” and “general” publications. Just in the list of Korean novels by period I posted a few days ago I noted ten examples:
• Kang Kyŏng-ae, From Wonso Pond (1934), tr. Samuel Perry (The Feminist Press at CUNY, 2009) [Orig Human Problems (ingan munje)]
• Kim Tong-ni, The Shaman Sorceress (1978), tr. Hyun Song Shin and Eugene Chung (Routledge, 1989) [Orig Eulhwa (the name of the shaman)]
• Jung-Myung Lee, The Investigation (2012), tr. Chi-Young Kim (Pegasus Books, 2015) [Orig The wind that touches the stars]
• Ahn Junghyo, White Badge (1983, rev. 1989), tr. Ahn Junghyo (Soho Press, 1989) [Orig War and the City (1983), White War (1989)]
• Yang Kwija, A Distant and Beautiful Place (1987), tr. Kim So-young and Julie Pickering (University of Hawaii Press, 2003) [Orig The People of Wonmi-dong]
• Shin Kyung-sook, The Girl who Wrote Loneliness (1995), tr. Ha-yun Jung (Pegasus Books, 2015). [Orig The Lone Room (oittan bang)]
• Ch'ŏn Un-yŏng, The Catcher in the Loft (2011), tr, Bruce and Ju-chan Fulton (Codhill Press, 2019) [Orig Ginger (Saenggang)]
• Han Kang, Human Acts: A Novel (2014), tr. Deborah Smith (Hogarth, 2016) [Orig The Boy is Coming]
• Bae Suah, Recitation (2011), tr. Deborah Smith (Deep Vellum Publishing, 2017) [Orig The Low Hills of Seoul]
• Ch’oe In-ho, Another Man’s City (2011), tr. Bruce and Ju-Chan Fulton (Dalkey Archive Press, 2014) [Orig City of Familiar Strangers (nachigeun taindeurui dosi - more a mistranslation than a change)]
I can mostly accept them, but one I can't, namely the retitling of . Shin Kyung-sook’s book, which she originally named The Lone (or Solitary) Room and was renamed by the publisher (Pegasus Books) to the romantically flavored The Girl who Wrote Loneliness and provided with a cover to match. But hey if it helped sell copies I guess I shouldn’t complain, because it is a truly great novel, not only Shin’s best so far (in translation), but IMO one of the best Korean novels ever written.
Re Peter’s list, I have read:The Hole by Hye-young Pyun (tr. Sora Kim-Russell) – great book, a rare Korean crossover from genre to serious literary fiction
(2.) Red Sword by Bora Chung (tr. Anton Hur) – read a few weeks ago, had high hopes and was very disappointed, as I explain in my GR review
(7.) Chinatown by Oh Jung Hee (tr. Bruce Fulton) – admittedly in a different translation, also bilingual, tr. Peggy C. Cho, illust. Nam Ju-hyeon (Hollym, 2004) – the story is so straightforward that I doubt the two translations, originally appearing just a year apart, would be very different [EDIT: I just noticed that the book soon to be published by Penguin Classics, though titled simply Chinatown (at least provisionally), contains Bruce and Ju-Chan Fulton's translations not just of Oh Jung-hee's Chinatown but also a number of her other stories, which opens the possibility that the translation of Chinatown may have been revised at some point]
As of now I have no plans to read any of the others in the list, at least until I see reviews that make me think I should – the most likely ones being Art on Fire by Yun Ko-Eun because of her track record with Disaster Tourist and Table For One, both of which were a bit light for my tastes but smart and satirical, and Counsel Culture by Kim Hye-jin because of group member Hannah’s positive recommendation.
Mod
Quick update: --- This group, the Korean Literature Club, for its August 2025 session is reading: Blowfish by Jo Kyung-ran, translated by Chi-young Kim, official publication, July 2025.
I'd propose that Blowfish is a plausible longlist contender for the 2026 International Booker. It may be exactly the sort of book that the Booker judges are fond of.
Jo Kyung-ran has never been nominated before. Translator Chi-young Kim was nominated once, for Whale , in 2023 (shortlisted).
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Mod
This list needs some updating.
The International Booker 2026 longlist is to be announced in late February 2026, applying to books published in the UK May 2025 thru April 2026. We should be able to determine all the eligible books by now.
The RAS Korean Literature Club
Books mentioned in this topic
Whale (other topics)Blowfish (other topics)
Petty Lies (other topics)
The Wizard's Bakery (other topics)
Hakuda Photo Studio (other topics)
More...
Related to the "Korean authors and the International Booker Prize" (https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...) but about 2026. The data and discussion in the other thread covers the period May 2015 to May 2025. Here, I propose to focus on (ask about) the upcoming 2026 prize.
The International Booker Prize has emerged as an important, attention-getting, prestige prize in literary translation-into-English.
https://thebookerprizes.com/internati...
It's probably true that the shock awarding of the Nobel Prize in Literature to the Korean author Han Kang would never have even been considered without the earlier (2016) awarding of the International Booker Prize to her.
Korean authors and translators have done extremely well in this International Booker contest, as I showed here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/.... In principle, of course, there is never any guarantee about future success, but speculation has never hurt too many people.
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Here is the 2026 info:
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International Booker Prize 2026 judges:
- Natasha Brown; chair
- Marcus du Sautoy
- Sophie Hughes
- Troy Onyango
- Nilanjana S. Roy
ELIGIBILITY: "Submissions for the International Booker Prize 2026 are now open. Eligible works are those published between 1 May 2025 and 30 April 2026."
WHO MAY SUBMIT: "Only publishers based in the UK and/or Ireland can submit entries to the prize. Authors, translators and agents are not permitted to enter the prizes directly."
- LONGLIST: to be announced February 24, 2026
--- 12 or 13 books
- SHORTLIST: to be announced March 31, 2026
--- 6 books
- WINNER to be announced at a grand ceremony in London, around late-May 2026 (the ten-year anniversary of the surprise win by The Vegetarian, by Han Kang)
--- 1 book
Going on the 2016-2025 data, statistical probability gives us a 51% chance that at least one Korean-original novel will appear on the 2026 longlist, and if one does appear on the longlist a quite-strong chance it will go onto the shortlist.
That's based on the "7 Korean / 130 Total" sample (see: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... and on there being 13 slots for to-be-longlisted books in 2026.
Given that the 2025 longlist had no Korean books, chances for 2026 may be higher than the calculated 51%.
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The next logical question is, which Korean-to-English-translated fiction is being published in the UK between May 2025 and April 2026?
One such work, at least, we know about, this Korean Literature Club having read it for our June 2025 gathering: Red Sword .
It doesn't seem likely at all, to me, that Red Sword would win, or even make the longlist, for 2026. But it is eligible. The novel was not well-received by the members of the Korean Literature Club, most of whom gave it middling marks.
There are no doubt many other contenders. As for now, I don't know what they might be. So please post what they may be in this thread, if you want; or drop in any other Korean literature-related comments 2026 International Booker Prize here.
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