China Miéville wins Arthur C. Clarke Award
The Arthur C. Clarke Award for the best science fiction novel of 2000 published in the UK was won by China Miéville for Perdido Street Station (Macmillan). The US edition of the book was published in February by Ballantine Del Rey.
The Award, a specially-engraved bookend and a cheque for £2001, was presented in a packed ceremony at the Science Museum, London, on the evening of Saturday, May 19.
The shortlist for the award also included Parable of the Talents by
Octavia E. Butler (Women's Press), Ash: A Secret History by Mary Gentle
(Gollancz), Cosmonaut Keep by Ken MacLeod (Orbit), Revelation Space by
Alastair Reynolds (Gollancz) and Salt by Adam Roberts (Gollancz). Award administrator Paul Kincaid revealed during his speech that the quality of the shortlist made this year's decision very difficult, and the winner emerged only after one of the longest and most closely argued judging meetings in the history of the Award.
For the first time in the history of the Award, all six of the shortlisted writers were present at the ceremony, which also attracted previously shortlisted writers including Colin Greenland, Christopher Priest, Josephine Saxton, Ian Watson and James Lovegrove, as well as Robert Holdstock, M. John Harrison, Roger Levy, Steve Palmer and many others.
Sir Arthur C. Clarke himself spoke on video, and among other things made the surprise announcement that since the Prize for 2001 was £2001, the Prize for 2002 would rise to £2002.
The winner was announced by Pat Cadigan, the only person to have won the Clarke Award twice. Earlier in the day, she had been responsible for arranging a succession of events at the Science Museum, including readings by all of the shortlisted writers, and panel
discussions featuring Jonathan Carroll, M. John Harrison, Colin Greenland and others. These events were an overwhelming success, attracting a far larger and more loyal audience that had been expected, and now look set to become an annual feature.
Link: BBC News
