Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenya’s novel Chain-Gang-All-Stars is on the Arthur C Clarke shortlist announced on Monday, May 13, 2024.
The Arthur C. Clarke Award is the most prestigious award for science fiction in Britain for a book first published in the United Kingdom. The award, established with a generous grant given by Sir Arthur C. Clarke, was first awarded in 1987 to Margaret Atwood for The Handmaid’s Tale. Lauren Beukes won the award for Zoo City in 2011 while Namwali Serpell won in 2020. On the shortlist have been Nnedi Okorafor in 2016 and Courttia Newland in 2022.
The judging panel for the Arthur C. Clarke Award 2024 are Dolly Garland and Stark Holborn for the British Science Fiction Association. Nicola Clarke and Tom Dillon for the Science Fiction Foundation. They read the 117 eligible titles from 50 UK publishing imprints and independent authors and announced the shortlist on Monday.
Chair of Judges, Dr Andrew M. Butler, said: “This year’s shortlist takes us from the deepest oceans to furthest outer space — with satire, time travel, aliens, octopuses, supercomputers, and a six-legged Bambi. Many thanks to returning judge Stark Holborn and to neophytes Nic Clarke, Tom Dillon, Dolly Garland, and Glyn Morgan for selecting six writers new to the Arthur C. Clarke Award. I suspect the final decision will be very close indeed.”
The shortlist features Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenya’s novel Chain-Gang-All-Stars which follows two top women gladiators who fight for their freedom within a depraved private prison system not so far-removed from America’s own.
This year’s winner will receive a commemorative engraved bookend and prize money of £2024.00 in a ceremony on Wednesday, July 24. The prize money follows a tradition that sees the annual prize money rise incrementally by year from 2001 in memory of Sir Arthur C. Clarke.
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