The Shortlist Has Landed!
Announcing the 33rd Arthur C. Clarke Award for science fiction literature
It’s a record-breaking year for the Arthur C. Clarke Award with 124 books received by our judges, submitted by 46 UK publishing imprints and independent authors.
Today their deliberations are over, and we’re delighted to announce that the six books shortlisted for the 33rd Arthur C. Clarke Award for science fiction literature are:
Semiosis — Sue Burke (HarperVoyager)
Revenant Gun — Yoon Ha Lee (Solaris)
Frankenstein in Baghdad — Ahmed Saadawi (Oneworld)
The Electric State — Simon Stålenhag (Simon and Schuster)
Rosewater — Tade Thompson (Orbit)
The Loosening Skin — Aliya Whiteley (Unsung Stories)
“As always, the jury have given us a snapshot of the best sf: cyberpunk, military space opera, first contact, dystopian America, fantastical Britain and war-torn Iraq. The judges have really done us proud, but I can see it’s going to be a tough final decision.”
Andrew M. Butler, Chair of Judges
“Our 6 shortlisted titles were selected from a record-breaking 124 eligible submissions, and as the imaginative breadth of SF publishing in the UK has grown so too has the challenge for our judges. With this shortlist they have successfully melded multiple definitions of the genre into a celebratory whole that both upholds the best traditions of science fiction literature and beckons us towards exhilarating new futures.”
Tom Hunter, Award Director
The annual award is presented for the best science fiction novel of the year, and selected from a list of novels whose UK first edition was published in the previous calendar year.
The winner will be announced at a public award ceremony held in partnership with Foyles Bookshop, Charing Cross Road, on Wednesday 17th July 2019. The winner will be presented with a cheque for £2019.00 and the award itself, a commemorative engraved bookend.
The award was originally established by a generous grant from Sir Arthur C. Clarke with the aim of promoting science fiction in Britain, and is currently administered by the Serendip Foundation, a voluntary organisation created to oversee the on-going running and development of the award.
Members of the judging panel are nominated by supporting organisations, currently the British Science Fiction Association, the Science Fiction Foundation and the SCI-FI-LONDON film festival.
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