Nommos at Worldcon
The Nommo Awards, honoring the best in African SF, will be presented at Discon III, the 79th World Science Fiction Convention, to be held December 15-19, 2021 in Washington DC. Sheree Renée Thomas will be master of ceremonies. She says,
As a reader and a writer who loved the genre, I hoped to see a time when the work of Black writers would be widely embraced in the field, a time when discussions about our perceived absence or invisibility could begin to be put to rest. It’s an honor to present the exciting Nommo Awards this year at our very first WorldCon, and I hope that this will be a fun tradition that will carry on in the years ahead.
The Nommos were previously awarded at the Ake Books and Culture Festival in Nigeria. Awards administrator Geoff Ryman said,
Almost every major SFF magazine has now published work by African writers. It just seemed the right time to move the awards onto the international stage to highlight the work there. Being at a WorldCon also means we can have such a star-studded team of presenters.
Those presenters include author editor Iquo DianaAbasi and authors Suyi Davies Okungbowa and Tochi Onyebuchi. There will also be a slate of panels at the convention focused on African SF/F.
The Nommo Awards are nominated by members of the African Speculative Fiction Society members. This year’s shortlist is available here.
For more details on the ceremony, see Discon’s announcement.
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