2025 Joyce Carol Oates Prize Finalists

The 2025 Joyce Carol Oates Prize has announced its list of five finalists. The award honors “mid-career authors in fiction,” and the winner receives a $50,000 prize and a residence at the University of California, Berkeley and/or Bay Area. The award is given by the New Literary Project. Works and authors of genre interest include:

  • Say Hello to My Little Friend, Jennine Capó Crucet (Simon & Schuster)
  • Bear,
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2026 Crawford Award Submissions Open

The judges for the Crawford Award, which honors “an author’s first work of fantasy in book form,” are soliciting books published in the year 2025 between March 30 and December 31, 2025. What qualifies as a book is flexible: “In addition to novels and novellas, collections of poetry, short stories, and fiction aimed at younger readers are all eligible.” The Crawford Award will be given at the International Conference of ...Read More

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Griffith Named SFWA Grand Master

The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) has named Nicola Griffith the 41st recipient of the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award.

SFWA President Kate Ristau said,

It is SFWA’s honor to recognize and celebrate Nicola’s past achievements, while looking forward to her future triumphs. Her work continues to inspire and challenge me, and when asked to pick a Grand Master to lead us into our Diamond Year, I ...Read More

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Waterstones Children’s Book Prize 2025 Winners

The Waterstones Children’s Book Prize 2025 has released its list of winners. Recipients of genre interest include The Cafe at the Edge of the Woods by Mikey Please (Harper Collins), Overall Winner and the winner of Best Illustrated Book; and Rune by Carlos Sánchez (Flying Eye), winner in the Best Book for Younger Readers category.

Category winners each receive £2,000 and the overall Waterstones Children’s Book of the Year title ...Read More

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Todd Grimson (1952-2025)

Author Todd Grimson, 72, died January 30, 2025. He was best known for surreal horror novel Brand New Cherry Flavor (1996), adapted as a streaming TV series in 2021.

Grimson was a pen name for Todd Spillum, who was born February 2, 1952 in Seattle WA and grew up in Portland OR. Spillum worked for the Veterans Administration Hospital and in a Portland emergency room, experiences that inspired debut novel ...Read More

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2025 IAFA Awards Winners

Winners of several awards given by the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts (IAFA) were announced during the 46th International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts (ICFA 43), held March 19-22, 2025 in Orlando FL.

“Parasitism, Coexistence, and Colonialism in Animorphs” by Miranda Miller won the David G. Hartwell Emerging Scholar Award, which gives a $250 stipend “to the graduate student submitting the most outstanding paper.” An ...Read More

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2025 Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award Winner

Gustavo Bondoni is the winner of the 2025 Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award for his short story, “Space Monkeys”. Tiffany Smith won second place for “Lights in the Void” and Jason Crawford won third place for “Atlas’ Shoulders”.

Bondoni and the runners-up will be honored in a ceremony at the 2025 International Space Development Conference in Orlando FL, June 19-22, 2025. Bondoni will receive a trophy and membership in ...Read More

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2025 Dublin Literary Award Shortlist

The six-title shortlist has been announced for the 2025 Dublin Literary Award, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. Authors and titles of genre interest include:

  • James, Percival Everett (Doubleday)
  • Prophet Song, Paul Lynch (One World/Grove)
  • North Woods, Daniel Mason (Random House)

The initial 71 titles on the longlist were “nominated by 83 libraries from 34 countries around the world.” Titles eligible for the 2025 award were ...Read More

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2025 PEN America Literary Awards Longlists

PEN America has announced their 2025 longlists for their 11 literary awards. The awards “will confer over $350,000 to writers and translators. Spanning fiction, poetry, essay, translation, and more, these Longlisted books are dynamic, diverse, and thought-provoking examples of literary excellence.” Awards, titles, and authors of genre interest include:

PEN/Jean Stein Book Award ($75,000)

  • Martyr!, Kaveh Akbar (Alfred A. Knopf)
  • Dead in Long Beach, California, Venita Blackburn (MCD)
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2025 Windham-Campbell Prize Winners

Recipients have been announced for the 2025 Donald Windham-Sandy M. Campbell Literature Prize. Those of genre interest include Rana Dasgupta and Patricia J. Williams, both honored for nonfiction, and Sigrid Nunez, honored for fiction.

The Windham-Campbell Prize was established in 2013 “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 ...Read More

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The West Passage Wins Crawford Award

Jared Pechaček’s The West Passage (Tor) won this year’s the Crawford Award, presented at the International Conference of the Fantastic in the Arts in Orlando FL on March 22, 2025. The award jury received 59 submissions from over 30 publishers, by authors from 20 different countries. Eleven of the submitted novels were translations. Judges were Brian Attebery, Eddie Clark, Candas Jane Dorsey, Mimi Mondal, and Yilin Wang.

The administrator was ...Read More

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L.J. Smith (1958-2025)

Author L.J. Smith, 66, died March 8, 2025 in Danville CA after a long illness. Smith was best known for the bestselling Vampire Diaries series and the Night World series.

Lisa Jane Smith was born September 4, 1958 in Fort Lauderdale FL and grew up in Villa Park in Southern California. She attended the University of California, Santa Barbara and San Francisco State University, and worked for three years as ...Read More

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2025 International Dylan Thomas Prize Shortlist

The shortlist for the 2025 International Dylan Thomas Prize has been announced. The six-title list includes Rapture’s Road by Seán Hewitt (Jonathan Cape) and Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon (Fig Tree).

The annual Dylan Thomas prize, in partnership with Swansea University, awards £20,000 “to the best eligible published literary work in the English language, written by an author aged 39 or under.” This year’s judges are Jan Carson, Mary Jean

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BSFA Awards 2024 Shortlist

The shortlist for the 2024 British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) Awards has been announced.

Best Novel

  • Calypso, Oliver K. Langmead (Titan)
  • Rabbit in the Moon, Fiona Moore (Epic)
  • Alien Clay, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Orbit) Removed from the ballot at the request of the author
  • Three Eight One, Aliya Whiteley (Solaris)

Best Shorter Fiction (for novelettes and novellas)

  • Navigational Entanglements, Aliette de Bodard (Tordotcom)
  • “What Happened at
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Barakat and Mtoor Win 2025 Watermelon Grant

L.D. Lewis has announced Ibtisam Barakat and Monir Mtoor (Nissan Al-Jalele) as the winners of the inaugural 2025 Watermelon Grant. This grant “offers $2000 USD in unrestricted funds to an emerging Palestinian creator in the field of speculative arts.” The award will allow entry to different artistic media in different yearly cycles, including literary, visual, and performing artists. This year, it names Barakat the winner in poetry and Mtoor the ...Read More

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Climate Fiction Prize 2025 Shortlist

The Climate Fiction Prize has announced its inaugural shortlist. Founded by Rose Goddard, Imran Khan, and Leo Barasi and supported by Climate Spring, the prize seeks to “celebrate the most inspiring novels tackling the climate crisis.”

Shortlisted titles and authors of genre interest include The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (Sceptre), Briefly Very Beautiful by Roz Dineen (Bloomsbury Circus), Orbital by Samantha Harvey (Jonathan Cape), and The Morningside by ...Read More

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Anathema Call For Co-Editors

Anathema has announced a call for co-editors via Bluesky, saying they are “moving forward with plans for Anathema 2.0, and we would like to bring on more co-editors who are committed to the magazine’s longevity.” New co-editors will produce the magazine with Liza Wemakor, Lysz Flo, and Plangdi Neple.

Anathema: Spec from the Margins was launched in 2017 by Michael Matheson & Andrew Wilmot. The publication received numerous accolades from ...Read More

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2025 Jhalak Prize Longlists

The 12-title longlists for the Jhalak Prose Prize, Jhalak Children’s & Young Adult Prize, and the new Jhalak Poetry Prize have been announced.

The awards “seek to celebrate books by writers of colour in the UK and Ireland.” The prize awards £1000 to each winner, along with “a unique work of art created by artists chosen for the annual Jhalak Art Residency.”

The longlist features several titles and authors of ...Read More

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2025 Kurd Laßwitz Preis Shortlist

The shortlist has been announced for the 2025 Kurd Laßwitz Preis. The prize is awarded to German-language SF works published in the previous year.

Best German SF Novel

  • Der Riss, Andreas Brandhorst (Heyne)
  • Wolfszone, Christian Endres (Heyne)
  • Parts per Million, Theresa Hannig (Fischer Tor)
  • Anahita, Sven Haupt (Eridanus)
  • Lieferdienst, Tom Hillenbrand (Kiepenheuer & Witsch)
  • Views, Marc-Uwe Kling (Ullstein)
  • Apeirophobia, Christian J. Meier (Hirnkost)
...Read More Read more

2025 Jim Baen Memorial Award Finalists

Baen Books has announced on social media the ten finalists for the 2025 Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award:

  • Gustavo Bondoni
  • Jason Crawford
  • Deborah Davitt
  • Meghan Feldman
  • Ricardo Garcia
  • Trent Guillory
  • Gary Herring
  • Joseph McGow-Russell
  • Tom (T.S.) Ryker
  • Tiffany Smith

The Grand Prize winner will be featured on the Baen website. The author will be given a trophy and paid professional rates.

Grand Prize, second, and third place winners each ...Read More

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Guy Thomas (1958-2025)

Convention organizer Guy Thomas, 67, died March 13, 2025.

Guy Wayne Thomas, born February 21, 1958, discovered science fiction fandom in college, in Carbondale IL. His first science fiction convention was the 1979 NaSFiC in Louisville KY. When he moved to the Bay Area, he built new connections with the northern California science fiction community, where he was especially known for his copious knowledge of and deep appreciation for his ...Read More

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Lynne M. Thomas Steps Down at Uncanny

Lynne M. Thomas is stepping down as co-editor-in-chief and co-publisher of Uncanny after 11 years. Her cofounder Michael Damian Thomas will continue as sole editor-in-chief starting with issue 64 and as publisher starting with Issue 67. Lynne Thomas is “shifting her focus to her day job as she works towards her rare book librarianship goals.”

Michael Damian Thomas said,

Lynne and I dreamt up and founded Uncanny Magazine together 11 ...Read More

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2025 Imadjinn Awards Finalists

Finalists for the 2025 Imadjinn Awards have been announced. Categories of genre interest follow.

Best Science Fiction Novel

  • Path to Freedom, James Copley (Cannon)
  • Salvage Purgatory, Jason Cordova, Kevin Steverson & Nick Steverson (Theogony)
  • Prince Conqueror, Fred Hughes (Chris Kennedy)
  • 2028: Tomorrow Is the Day, L.R. O’Brien (Austin Macauley)

Best Fantasy Novel

  • Cursed by a Siren’s Kiss, LS Embers & Riley Hunt (self-published)
  • Chosen By
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2025 Carnegie Medals Shortlists

The shortlists for the 2025 Carnegie Medal for Writing and Carnegie Medal for Illustration, honoring UK books for children and young adults, have been announced. Titles and authors of genre interest follow.

Carnegie Medal for Writing

  • Treacle Town, Brian Conaghan (Andersen)
  • The Things We Leave Behind, Clare Furniss (Simon & Schuster UK)
  • All That It Ever Meant, Blessing Musariri (Zephyr Head of Zeus)

Carnegie Medal for Illustration

...Read More Read more

People & Publishing Roundup, February 2025

MILESTONES

MEGAN CHEE is now repre­sented by Stevie Finegan of Zeno Agency Ltd.

AWARDS

EVE HILL-AGNUS won the 2024 Albertine Translation Prize for her translation of Ultramarine by MARIETTE NAVARRO (Deep Vellum), presented by the French Embassy in the US and selected by a jury.

BOOKS SOLD

STEPHEN KING will write Han­sel and Gretel, a “reimagining” of the fairy tale, with illustrations by the late MAURICE SENDAK (originally created ...Read More

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2024 Nebula Awards Ballot

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) has released the finalists for the 2024 Nebula Awards via YouTube video.

Novel

  • Sleeping Worlds Have No Memory, Yaroslav Barsukov (Caezik SF & Fantasy) amazon / bookshop
  • Rakesfall, Vajra Chandrasekera (Tordotcom) amazon / bookshop
  • Asunder, Kerstin Hall (Tordotcom) amazon / bookshop
  • A Sorceress Comes to Call, T. Kingfisher (Tor; Titan UK) amazon / bookshop
  • The Book of Love
...Read More Read more

Details on the New Owners of Analog, Asimov’s, and F&SF

Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Asimov’s Science Fiction, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction have been acquired by Must Read Magazines, a division of a new publishing company, Must Read Books Publishing. All editorial staff from the magazines have been retained in the acquisitions. Jackie Sherbow has been promoted to editor of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. P.L. Stevens joins the ...Read More

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New Imprint: Bloomsbury Archer

Bloomsbury has announced a new SF/F imprint, Bloomsbury Archer, and plans for it to publish “across the constellation of speculative fiction – from fantasy and science fiction to crossover, speculative romance, and from horror to myth retellings.” The imprint’s name comes from the current Bloomsbury emblem of the Roman hunter goddess Diana, “referencing the imprint’s pursuit of the very best storytelling and new stars.”

Vicky Leech Mateos and Noa Wheeler ...Read More

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2025 ITW Thriller Awards Finalists

International Thriller Writers has announced the finalists for the 2025 Thriller Awards. Titles and authors of genre interest include:

Best Standalone Thriller Novel

  • The Last One at the Wedding, Jason Rekulak (Flatiron)

Best Standalone Mystery Novel

  • Negative Girl, Libby Cudmore (Datura)
  • What Happened to Nina?, Dervla McTiernan (William Morrow)

Best Series Novel

  • To Die For, David Baldacci (Grand Central)
  • Shadowheart, Meg Gardiner (Blackstone)
  • Flashback,
...Read More Read more

Picard Wins SLF Illustration Award

The Speculative Literature Foundation (SLF) has announced that artist Flore Picard is the winner of their 2025 Illustration of the Year. “Look for Picard’s artwork on our site, as well as future SLF newsletters, promo, and other content!”

Picard said, “In a futuristic world of glass and metal, she made herself wings out of her prison, a harness out of her shackles, and flew up to seek out the stars. ...Read More

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2025 British Book Awards Shortlists

The Bookseller has announced the shortlists for the 2025 British Book Awards. Titles and authors of genre interest include:

Fiction

  • James, Percival Everett (Mantle)
  • Long Island, Colm Tóibín (Picador)
  • Think Again, Jacqueline Wilson (Bantam)

Pageturner

  • Faebound, Saara El-Arifi (Harper Voyager)
  • Daydream, Hannah Grace (Simon & Schuster)
  • House of Flame and Shadow, Sarah J. Maas (Bloomsbury)

Début Fiction

  • The Ministry of Time, Kaliane Bradley
...Read More Read more

Frank R. Paul Awards Submissions Open

Update (4/14/25):

We are pleased to announce that the 2025 Frank R. Paul Awards will be presented at Philcon (Nov. 21-23). Due to the lateness of the convention in the calendar, we’re extending the deadline for submissions for the Frank R. Paul Awards for another month, to May 15, 2025. All artists, publishers and editors are enthusiastically encouraged to submit their 2024 work to the main awards administrator, Frank Wu,
...Read More Read more