NPD Bookscan released numbers on sales from 2010 to 2019 and listed the top ten bestselling titles of that decade. E.L. James’s Fifty Shades of Grey titles took the top three slots (15.2 million for Fifty Shades of Grey, 10.4 million for Fifty Shades Darker, and 9.3 million for Fifty Shades Freed, all from Random House), with The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic) in fourth place ...Read More
Read moreNumerous upcoming conventions and literary events have been postponed or canceled as part of efforts to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus that causes respiratory illness COVID-19. The situation remains in flux as the full extent of the pandemic remains to be seen. We will update this story and our convention listing with further information about cancellations and postponements as it becomes available.
Nominees for the Brave New Words Award has been announced by Starburst magazine:
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) has announced Kevin Wabaunsee as their new managing editor, Lauren Raye Snow as their new art director, and Beth Dawkins as their new volunteer coordinator. Wabaunsee will support editor-in-chief Michi Trota in overseeing SFWA’s publications and communications channels; Snow will oversee visual aspects, including graphics, branding, and design; and Dawkins will work to ensure that volunteers and services are placed where ...Read More
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Clarion West is offering free writing workshops for teens and adults on a first come, first served basis. The classes and writing sprints will run from March 30 – April 24, 2020. Instructors include K. Tempest Bradford, Marie Brennan, Tobias Buckell, Curtis Chen, Andy Duncan, Eileen Gunn, Elizabeth Hand, James Patrick Kelly, Fonda Lee, Henry Lien, Seanan McGuire, Ian Muneshwar, Brooks Peck, Laurie Penny, Erin Roberts, Nisi Shawl, James Sutter, ...Read More
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The International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts (IAFA) announced that they were able to negotiate an advantageous settlement with their hotel after COVID-19 fears forced them to cancel ICFA 41. IAFA president Dale Knickerbocker said, “To give you an idea just how important this is, we could have been on the hook for a $130,000 payment (not a deposit) even if they had not invoked penalty clauses, which ...Read More
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Valentina Gosetti & Eliza Kent are the winners of the 2020 Jamie Bishop Memorial Award, given by the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts (IAFA) “for a critical essay on the fantastic written in a language other than English.” Their winning essay is “Maribas et la sorcellerie masculine” [Maribas and Male Witchcraft], published in Revue Bertrand 9/19.
They receive $250, an honorary plaque, and one year’s membership in
The YA Book Prize 2020 shortlist includes several titles and authors of genre interest:
The YA Book Prize is awarded to a YA title written by an author living in the UK or Ireland. Finalists and winners are selected by ...Read More
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Andrea Lawlor and Ling Ma are among the winners of the 2020 Whiting Awards, which annually gives $50,000 each “to ten emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama.” The award is funded by the Whiting Foundation, created by New York investor and philanthropist Flora Ettlinger Whiting in 1971. Recipients of the award are selected by an anonymous committee appointed by the Foundation.
For more information, including the complete list ...Read More
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The 2019 Aurealis Awards shortlist, recognizing the best in Australian speculative fiction, has been announced.
Best Science Fiction Novel
Winners of the 2020 Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award have been announced.
Judges for the contest were David Drake and the editors of Baen Books.
The Grand Prize winning story will be featured on the Baen website in June 2020. The author ...Read More
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CoNZealand, the 78th Worldcon, has announced it will be the first ever “virtual Worldcon.” Con-chairs Kelly Buehler and Norman Cates said,
This has been an incredibly difficult decision, but one that had to be made now to give our guests and members some certainty during this extraordinary time for the world.
The changes are coming fast and furious as New Zealand enters a four week lockdown. We are all dealing ...Read More
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Amid growing coronavirus concerns, some booksellers and distributors have canceled new magazine orders.
Barnes and Noble announced they will cease taking new magazine product, effective March 23, 2020, across all stores. Krifka Steffey, director of newsstand merchandising, said,
We will continue to sell the product currently on our Newsstands, and will look forward to the day that we can re-establish this critical part of our bookstore offering.
Diamond Comic Distributors ...Read More
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The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) have announced that this year’s Nebula Conference, scheduled for May 28-31, 2020 in Woodland Hills CA, will be held as an entirely virtual event.
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the board of SFWA feels that holding an in-person event this May would be irresponsible.
The Nebula Conference will include panels, solo presentations, conference mentorships, workshops, forums, chats, and virtual room ...Read More
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Dreamspinner Press, a small publisher of LGBTQ romance founded in 2006, has reportedly failed to pay many authors their royalties; by some reports, hundreds of writers have been affected. The press has more than 3,000 titles in its inventory – some genre-related – and authors say that as early as 2017, royalties began to arrive late, or not at all, or, at least once, in the form of a postdated ...Read More
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Penguin Random House has removed its audiobooks from various unlimited audio subscription programs worldwide, including Storytel and Scribd. An announcement from PRH explained that the company “has decided that at this stage, we will not participate in unlimited access subscription models. Our decision was made collectively by the company’s international leadership team to preserve a diversity of content in the marketplace and the actual and perceived long-term value of our ...Read More
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The Bookseller has announced the shortlists for the 2020 British Book Awards, including several titles of genre interest.
Début Book of the Year
Audiobook Book of the Year
Fiction writers Yiyun Li and Namwali Serpell are among the eight winners of the Windham-Campbell Prize and will each receive “an unrestricted grant” of $165,000.
The Donald Windham-Sandy M. Campbell Literature Prize was established “to call attention to literary achievement and provide writers with the opportunity to focus on their work independent of financial concerns.” The prize is administered by Yale University, with a new nominating committee every year, and ...Read More
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Penguin Random House UK has announced it will produce and distribute audio versions of fiction and graphic novel titles from Rebellion Publishing. The partnership will produce around 30 science fiction, fantasy, and horror titles a year from authors such as Katherine Addison, Derek Künsken, and Adrian Tchaikovsky, as well as adaptations of five new graphic novels in the 2000 AD series.
The first title, available now, is Wanderers by Chuck ...Read More
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The shortlists for the Carnegie Medal for best children’s book and the Kate Greenaway Medal for best illustrations in a children’s book have been announced. Titles of genre interest follow.
Carnegie Medal
Greenaway Medal
Authors Melanie Conklin, Ellen Oh, and Christina Soontornvat have started the Everywhere Book Fest, a “virtual gathering of kidlit authors, books, and readers that will bring the book festival experience to everyone,” in response to several literary festival closures due to coronavirus concerns.
The two-day event will happen May 1-2, 2020 and include live and pre-recorded panels. A schedule and author lineup will be announced in April. Panel proposal submissions ...Read More
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The winners of the 2020 Fan Activity Achievement Awards (FAAns) were honored at the Corflu 37 Awards Ceremony, March 13-15, 2020, at the Hilton in College Station TX. ...Read More
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Penguin Random House and Barnes & Noble teamed up for an ill-advised project called “Diverse Editions” for Black History Month in February 2020, only to swiftly suspend the program following an immediate and widespread outcry. Diverse Editions presented a dozen classic books (including Frankenstein, Moby-Dick, and The Secret Garden) with new dust jackets featuring illustrations of the (mostly white) characters reimagined as people of various other races. ...Read More
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Neil Gaiman and N.K. Jemisin will appear in conversation at the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson NY on May 2, 2020 at 7:30 p.m. Gaiman is professor in the arts at Bard, and the event is part of an ongoing series in which he discusses the creative process with other artists. Tickets are $25 ($5 for Bard undergraduates), and may be purchased at <fishercenter.bard.edu>. ...Read More
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Julia Rios has been awarded the 2020 Kevin O’Donnell, Jr. Service to SFWA Award, which “recognizes a member of SFWA who best exemplifies the ideal of service to his or her fellow members.” Rios established and oversaw the SFWA Mentoring Initiative. SFWA president Mary Robinette Kowal said:
One of the most effective pieces of outreach and education that SFWA currently has is our mentorship program. Julia Rios’s work to match ...Read More
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The 2020 International Conference for the Fantastic in the Arts (ICFA) has been canceled:
For the last two weeks, the IAFA Board has been monitoring the evolving COVID-19 situation. Until yesterday, we considered it our responsibility to keep the ICFA going for the more than 400 members who were still planning to attend, and to let each individual decide for themselves the risk.
The situation has changed drastically and quickly. ...Read More
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The five judges for the Philip K. Dick Award for works of science fiction published as paperback originals in the US during the year 2020 have been announced:
The Board of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) has posted the following statement:
The Board of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America is issuing a warning regarding short fiction publisher Thinkerbeat, which publishes the semi-pro magazines “Unfit” and “Unreal.” The publisher publicly posts lists of rejected stories along with the author’s name and a numeric score.
This publisher’s behavior is far outside of industry
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) has announced David Gaughran and John Picacio as recipients of the Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award “for distinguished contributions to the science fiction and fantasy community.”
The Solstice Award, created in 2008 and given at the discretion of the SFWA president with the majority approval of the Board of Directors, is for individuals, living or dead, who have had “a significant impact ...Read More
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The Lambda Literary Foundation has announced finalists for the 32nd Annual Lambda Literary Awards (the “Lammys”), celebrating “the best lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender books.” Nominees of genre interest follow.
LGBTQ SF/F/Horror
Baen Books has announced the ten finalists for the 2020 Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award:
The Grand Prize winner ...Read More
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Hugo Award-winning fan fiction site Archive of Our Own (AO3) has been censored by Chinese authorities. The Organization for Transformative Works (OTW), the non-profit organization that runs AO3, confirmed that both ArchiveofOurOwn.org and AO3.org are blocked from view within the country, and said on Twitter: “Unfortunately, the Archive of Our Own is currently inaccessible in China. We’ve investigated, and it is not due to anything on our end. We’re keeping ...Read More
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