The shortlist has been announced for the 2026 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction.
The award is the UK’s longest running prize for comic fiction and previous winners have included bestselling novelists Ferdia Lennon, Nina Stibbe, and Percival Everett. Last year’s winner was Rosanna Pike for her dazzlingly witty debut novel A Little Trickerie.
The judges for this year’s prize include: Patrick Grant (TV and radio commentator, documentary maker and author), Stephanie Merritt (novelist and critic), James Naughtie (broadcaster and author), Tatty Macleod (comedian, writer and actor), Sophie Ratcliffe (writer and critic), and Tristram Fane Saunders (poet and critic, editor of The Little Review). Peter Florence (Director of The Conversation at St Martin in the Fields) is Chair of the Judges.
Each of the shortlisted authors will receive a Magnum of Bollinger Special Cuvée and a copy of Carry On, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse, published by Everyman’s Library.
Commenting on this year’s shortlist, Chair of the Judges Peter Florence said: “There's some dark laughter here, and some light frothy charm, biting wit, knockabout farce and piquant satire. Real comedic joy is a wonderful thing to find, as rare as a silver cow creamer, and we're graced with lots of it.”
Victoria Carfantan, Director of Champagne Bollinger UK & Global Partnerships added: “Champagne Bollinger is delighted to continue its long-term association with the Everyman Wodehouse Prize, celebrating the very best of comic fiction and the remarkable talent behind it. Literature, much like Champagne, has a unique ability to bring people together and create moments of genuine enjoyment. This year's shortlist is a wonderful reflection of the creativity, originality and wit that the prize seeks to champion, and we look forward to celebrating the achievements of these six exceptional authors.”
The six funniest books chosen by this year’s judges, and comprising the 2026 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse for Comic Fiction shortlist, are:
A Good Person by Kirsten King – published by Fleet (Little, Brown)
How To Lose a Lord in Ten Days by Sophie Irwin – published by HarperCollins
Offseason by Avigayl Sharp – published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson (Orion Publishing Group)
We Love You, Bunny by Mona Awad – published by Scribner UK (Simon & Schuster)
Black Bag by Luke Kennard – published by John Murray Press
Motherfaker by Anna Brook-Mitchell – published by Macmillan
The judges for this year’s prize are: Patrick Grant (TV and radio commentator, documentary maker and author), Stephanie Merritt (novelist and critic), James Naughtie (broadcaster and author), Tatty Macleod (comedian, writer and actor), Sophie Ratcliffe (writer and critic), and Tristram Fane Saunders (poet and critic, editor of The Little Review). Peter Florence (Director of The Conversation at St Martin in the Fields) is Chair of the Judges.
The winner will be announced at a reception on 30th November in London. The winner will be awarded with a jeroboam and a case of Bollinger Special Cuvée, the complete set of the Everyman’s Library P.G. Wodehouse collection and a pig named after their winning book.
More details about the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction can be found on the website here.
