2023 BSFA Awards Winners

April 3, 2024May 13, 2024 locusmag 0 Comments

The winners for the 2023 British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) Awards have been announced. The categories have been revised and expanded from previous years.

Best Novel

WINNER: The Green Man’s Quarry, Juliet E. McKenna (Wizard Tower)

Descendant Machine, Gareth L. Powell (Titan)
Airside, Christopher Priest (Gollancz)
HIM, Geoff Ryman (Angry Robot)
Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon, Wole Talabi (Gollancz)

Best Shorter Fiction (for novelettes and novellas)

WINNER: And Put Away Childish Things, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Rebellion)

Broken Paradise, Eugen Bacon (Luna)
I Am AI, Ai Jiang (Shortwave)
Europa, Allen Stroud (Flame Tree)
“Knotted Thorn”, Kari Sperring (The Book of Gaheris)

Best Short Fiction

WINNER: “How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub”, P. Djèlí Clark (Uncanny 1-2/23)

“Copper”, Jendia Gammon (Interzone 295)
“The Spoil Heap”, Fiona Moore (Clarkesworld 3/23)
“Lady Koi Koi: A Book Report”, Suyi Davies Okungbowa (Apex 6/20/23)
“A Little Seasoning”, Neil Williamson (Interzone Digital)

Best Collection (for collections and anthologies)

WINNER: The Best of British Science Fiction 2022, Donna Scott, ed. (Newcon)

Strange Attractors, Jaine Fenn (Newcon)
No One Will Come Back for Us, Premee Mohamed (Undertow)
Mothersound: The Sauútiverse Anthology, Wole Talabi, ed. (Android)
Best of World SF: Volume 3, Lavie Tidhar, ed. (Bloomsbury)

Best Fiction for Young Readers

WINNER: The Library of Broken Worlds, Alaya Dawn Johnson (Harpercollins)

The Inn at the Amethyst Lantern, J. Dianne Dotson (Android)
A Song of Salvation, Alechia Dow (Inkyard)
Mindbreaker, Kate Dylan (Hodder & Stoughton)
We Who Are Forged in Fire, Kate Murray (Hardie Grant)

Best Non-Fiction (Long)

WINNER: A Traveller in Time: The Critical Practice of Maureen Kincaid Speller, Maureen Kincaid Speller, Nina Allan, ed. (Academia Lunare)

Spec Fic for Newbies: A Beginner’s Guide to Writing Subgenres of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror, Tiffani Angus & Val Nolan (Luna)
All These Worlds, Niall Harrison (Briardene)
Ex Marginalia: Essays on Writing Speculative Fiction by Persons of Color, Chinelo Onwualu, ed. (Hydra House)
“The Female Man”, Farah Mendlesohn (Eastercon talk)

Best Non-Fiction (Short)

WINNER: “Project Management Lessons from Rogue One”, Fiona Moore (adoctorofmanythings.wordpress.com)

“Dominant Themes in Afro-Centric Fiction”, Eugen Bacon (Aurealis 158)
“Weaving the Rainbow: Worldbuilding and SF”, Gautam Bhatia (Bombay Literary Magazine 4/23)
“Exposition Tax: The hidden burden of writing from the margins”, Suyi Davies Okungbowa (Ex Marginalia)
“Tech Billionaires Need to Stop Trying to Make the Science Fiction They Grew Up on Real”, Charles Stross (Scientific American 12/20/23)
“Prisoners in the Temple of the Muses”, Wole Talabi (Ancillary Review of Books 8/17/23)

Best Translated Short Fiction

WINNER: “Vanishing Tracks in the Sand”, Jana Bianchi, translated by Rachael Amoruso (The Bright Mirror)

“Bacterial”, Marcelo Cohen, translated by Kit Maude (Samovar 10/23/23)
“Retreat from the World Outside”, Gabriela Damian Miravete, translated by Adrian Demopulos (They Will Dream in the Garden)
“The Unknown Painter”, Henry Lion Oldie, translated by Alex Shvartsman, (Future SF 1/23/23)
“A Pilgrimage to Memories Tattooed”, Elena Pavlova, translated by Elena Pavlova & Desislava Sivilova (Samovar 6/26/23)
“My Guy”, Izumi Suzuki, translated by Sam Bett (Hit Parade of Tears)

Best Artwork

WINNER: Leo Nickolls for the cover of The Surviving Sky by Krikita H. Rao (Titan)

Elena Betti for the cover of Danged Black Thing by Eugen Bacon (Apex)
Christine Kim for the cover of Jewel Box: Stories by E. Lily Yu (Erewhon)
Julia Lloyd for the cover of Descendent Machine by Gareth L. Powell (Titan)
Juliana Pinho for the cover of “The Alphabet of Pinaa: An AI Reinvents Zerself on an Inhabited Moon” by Eugen Bacon (Interzone Digital)
Vinayak Varma for illustrations for “Strung Along in Seaforth” by Jonathan Laidlow (Interzone 295)

Best Audio Fiction

WINNER: The Dex Legacy, Emily Inkpen (www.thedexlagacy.com)

“When a Portal Comes Around”, Rick Danforth (Upbeat Tales 9/23)
“Carlos Explained”, Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor (Welcome to Night Vale 7/14/23)
Simultaneous Times Podcast, Episode 67, Jenna Hanchey & Abigail Guerrero (Space Cowboy)
“The Pigeon”, Michelle Knudsen (Drabblecast 7/21/23)

The awards are voted on by members of BSFA and the British Annual Science Fiction Convention (Eastercon), except for Translated Short Fiction, which is selected by jury. The winners were be announced during Levitation, this year’s Eastercon, held March 29 – April 1, 2024 at in Telford UK and online. For more information, see the BSFA website.

While you are here, please take a moment to support Locus with a one-time or recurring donation. We rely on reader donations to keep the magazine and site going, and would like to keep the site paywall free, but WE NEED YOUR FINANCIAL SUPPORT to continue quality coverage of the science fiction and fantasy field.