Queen Camilla Welcomes the Oldest Booker Prize Winner to Clarence House

Today's event also saw the launch of the Children’s Booker Prize, which aims to foster a new generation of readers.

Queen Camilla hosts the Booker Prize winners annually at Clarence House. A passionate reader and founder of The Queen's Reading Room, she has consistently supported the Booker Prize Foundation since 2013 by presenting awards and organizing celebratory events. This year, she welcomed M. John Harrison, 81, who became the oldest winner of the prize.

Harrison won the honor for his dystopian novel, The End of Everything, which is set on the Kent coast in the near future. The narrative explores the mysterious invasion of shapeshifting entities alongside societal collapse. During the event, he was pictured with the Queen and Gaby Wood, Chief Executive of the Booker Prize Foundation.

“It might be a writing shed, I think repairs – Cath and I live in a very old townhouse,” he said. Harrison, who entered the role of judge in 2022 for the coveted prize, expressed surprise at his win this year, although he expected to be on the longlist. Harrison became the oldest winner of the Booker Prize, surpassing Margaret Atwood's age of 79 when she won in 2019.

During his conversation with the Queen, Harrison revealed that he had been working on his masterpiece for over fifteen years. To which Camilla expressed surprise, saying, “and here you are, bingo,” as she congratulated him, saying, “You have been writing for a long time”. "It is really exciting later on in life," Harrison added. "This is one of them. I mean, it’s great to be here, although I am very nervous, obviously. You don’t see that," he concluded.

Today's event also saw the launch of the Children’s Booker Prize, which aims to foster a new generation of readers by celebrating outstanding contemporary fiction for children aged eight to 12, written in or translated into English and published in the UK and/or Ireland. As part of the initiative, 30,000 copies of the shortlisted and winning books will be distributed among children. The shortlist will be released on November 24, and the winner will be announced on February 2 at the Young V&A in London, with four children on the judging panel.

This year’s shortlisted titles include The Disappearers by Marlon James, Black Bag by Luke Kennard, May We Feed The King by Rebecca Perry, The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout, and John Of John by Douglas Stuart.