The literary calendar for 2026 is set to begin with a bang, as January sees major releases from established giants rather than the usual debut-heavy lineup. This year promises an extraordinary array of new fiction from some of the most celebrated authors working today, offering everything from environmental allegories to intimate family sagas.
Literary Heavyweights Return with Major New Works
The year opens with significant new novels from several defining literary voices. George Saunders, the Booker Prize-winning author renowned for his surreal short stories, publishes only his second novel, Vigil (Bloomsbury). This long-awaited follow-up to 2017's Lincoln in the Bardo centres on a spirit named Jill who aids the dying. Her latest charge is an oil tycoon forced to confront his ecological legacy.
In a poignant announcement, Julian Barnes has revealed that Departure(s) (Jonathan Cape) will be his final book. This blend of memoir and fiction explores themes of memory, love, and mortality, directly addressing the reader with the moving line: "Your presence has delighted me. Indeed, I would be nothing without you."
Meanwhile, Ali Smith continues her innovative sequence with Glyph (Hamish Hamilton), a companion to 2024's Gliff. Promising fables, phantoms, and a shout of resistance, it uncovers a story hidden within the previous novel.
Anticipated Sequels and Standalone Stories
Following the cinematic adaptation of Hamnet, Maggie O'Farrell returns in June with Land (Tinder). This multigenerational saga, inspired by her own family history, begins in 19th-century post-famine Ireland and follows a man mapping the country for the Ordnance Survey.
Prolific favourite Elizabeth Strout offers a standalone novel, The Things We Never Say (Viking), in May. Douglas Stuart, author of Shuggie Bain, also publishes in May with John of John (Picador), portraying a young gay man's return to his Hebridean island home.
September brings a new continent-spanning epic from fantasy master China Miéville. The Rouse (Picador), two decades in the writing, marks his first adult novel since 2011. Other notable returns include John Lanchester's black comedy Look What You Made Me Do (Faber, March) and Yann Martel's ambitious Son of Nobody (Canongate, April), which interweaves a translated epic poem with a father's notes to his daughter.
Exciting Follow-ups and International Voices
The year is also rich with powerful second novels and translated works. Louise Kennedy follows Trespasses with Stations (Bloomsbury, September), tracing an Irish relationship from the 1980s. Jacqueline Crooks presents Sky City (Cape, August), set in 1990s London.
From Japan, Asako Yuzuki and translator Polly Barton reunite for Hooked (4th Estate, March), another exploration of food and female experience. Award-winners Tayari Jones (Kin, March) and Geetanjali Shree (The Roof Beneath Their Feet, February) also have new novels.
Short story fans can anticipate collections from Colm Tóibín (The News from Dublin, Picador, March) and Sigrid Nunez (It Will Come Back to You, Virago, August). Finally, a treat awaits fans of Elizabeth Jane Howard's Cazalet Chronicles, as her niece, Louisa Young, continues the saga with The Golden Hours (Mantle, September), set in a changing 1962 Britain.
