Jamaican author Diana McCaulay has secured a place on the shortlist for the 2026 Royal Society for Literature Ondaatje Prize, with her sixth novel A House for Miss Pauline competing against works from five other countries for the £10,000 annual award.

McCaulay is the only Caribbean writer among the six shortlisted authors, with the list drawing on works set across Afghanistan, Ireland, India, the United States, England and Jamaica.

The RSL Ondaatje Prize, first awarded in 2004, recognises a distinguished work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry that evokes the spirit of a place — a remit that McCaulay said sits at the heart of her literary mission.