The British Science Fiction Awards 2024 longlists were announced on Saturday, February 1, 2025. Here are the writers of African descent in the running.
The British Science Fiction Awards, a production of the British Science Fiction Association, have been presented annually since 1970. The awards are voted on by members of the British Science Fiction Association and by the members of Eastercon, the national science fiction convention, held since 1955.
The longlists for work published in 2024 were made available on Saturday and can be voted on by members of the British Science Fiction Awards. The longlist features a strong showing from writers of African descent based on five continents (Africa, Asia, Europe, America, and Australia). The full list of those in the running are;
Best Collection
- Convergence Problems, Wole Talabi, Viva Djinn (Horde) Publishing
- A Place Between Waking and Forgetting, Eugen Bacon, Raw Dog Screaming Press
- Egypt + 100, Ahmed Naji (ed), Comma Press
- The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction (2023), Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki and Chinaza Eziaghighala (eds), CAEZIK SF & Fantasy
- Bestiary of Blood: Modern Fables and Dark Tales, Jamal Hodge (ed), Crystal Lake Publishing
Best Nonfiction
- Afro-Centered Futurisms in Our Speculative Fiction, Eugen Bacon (ed), Bloomsbury
Best Novel
- Womb City, Tlotlo Tsamaase, Afori Books
- The Legacy of Arniston House, T. L. Huchu, Pan Macmillan
- The Nightward, R. S. A. Garcia, Harpercollins UK
- The Principle of Moments, Esme Jikiemi-Pearson, Gollancz
Best Fiction (For short stories and their equivalent)
- The Mystery of A Place Between Waking and Forgetting, Eugen Bacon, Raw Dog Screaming Press
- Unquiet on the Eastern Front, Wole Talabi, Subterranean Press
- The Wayward Children of Asase Yaa, Cheryl S. Ntumy, World Literature Today
- Encore, Wole Talabi, Deep Dream: Science Fiction Exploring the Future of Art (MIT Press).
- Faith is a Butterfly Resting on a Rotting Eye, Gabrielle Emem Harry, Strange Horizons
- Kizimbani, Eugen Bacon & Clare Rhoden, Apex Magazine
Best Short Nonfiction (For short articles and their equivalent)
- Motherland Dreaming: Notes On African Speculative Fiction From Past and Present, Wole Talabi, Clarkesworld
- Afrocentric Futurisms – The Case for an Inclusive Expression, Suyi Okungbowa, Afro-Centred Futurisms in Speculative Fiction
- An Afrofuturistic Dystopia and the Afro-irreal, Eugen Bacon, Afro-Centred Futurisms in Speculative Fiction
- The Power of African Spirituality in Africanfuturism, Nuzo Onoh, Afro-Centred Futurisms in Speculative Fiction
- Black-Futurisms Vs. Systems of Domination, Kenya, Shingai Njeri Kagunda, Afro-Centred Futurisms in Speculative Fiction
- The Writer as an Agent of Change, Eugen Bacon, Open Journals
Best Shorter Fiction (For novellas, novelettes and other works that are not novel length).
- Lost Ark Dreaming, Suyi Davies Okungbowa, Tordotcom
- Songs for the Shadows, Cheryl S. Ntumy, Atthis Arts
- The Practice, The Horizon and the Chain, Sofia Samatar, Tor
- Chimera, Chinaza Eziaghigala, Nosetouch Press
- Embers, Wole Talabi, Convergence Problems (Astra Publishing)
- Hiraeth, Muthi Nhlema, Mombera Rising
- Oral History of a Past, Obsolete and Forgotten, Yasmin El Rashidi, Egypt +100 (Comma Press)
- The Year of Return, Akotowaa Ivana Ofori, Android Press
- We Who Will Not Die, Shingai Njeri Kagunda, Psychopomp
Best Fiction for Younger Readers
- Blood at the Root, LaDarrion Williams, Labyrinth Road
- Immortal Dark, Tigest Girma, Hodder Children’s Books
The winners will announced Eastercon, Reconnect which will be held in Belfast, Northern Ireland from April 18 – 21, 2025.
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