Nommo Awards 2024 shortlists announced.

The shortlists for the African Speculative Fiction Society’s Nommo Awards 2024 were announced on Wednesday, June 12, 2024.

In the African literary space, magical realism, Sci-Fi, horror, and graphic novels have been bunched together as “speculative fiction” by the African Speculative Fiction Society. That organisation introduced the Nommo Awards to celebrate these oft-side-lined genres in 2016. They have been an annual affair celebrating writers in the categories of Best Speculative Novel by an African, Best Speculative Novella by an African, Best Speculative Short Story by an African, and Best Graphic Novel/Comic by an African. It has been won by among others Nnedi Okorafor, Tade Thompson, Akwaeke Emezi, Tochi Onyebuchi, Lesley Nneka Arimah, Nana Akosua Hanson, Ekpeki Oghenechovwe Donald, Innocent Chizaram Ilo, Suyi Davies Okungbowa, Wole Talabi, Ada Nnadi, Chikodili Emelumadu, and Nerine Dorman. T. L. Huchu, Nnedi Okorafor, Roye Okupe, and Pemi Aguda won their categories in 2022.

The shortlists for the 2024 edition have been announced with the following in the running;

Novel

• Bones and Runes, Stephen Embleton, (Abibiman Publishing, 2022)
• Dazzling, Chikodili Emelumadu (Hachette; Wildifre, Headline Publishing Group, 2023)
• Don’t Answer when They Call Your Name, Ukamaka Olisakwe (Masobe Books, 2023)
• Shigidi and the Brass Head of Olabufon, Wole Talabi (Gollancz and DAW Books, 2023)
• Vagabonds!, Eloghosa Osunde, (Harper Collins; 4th Estate and Riverhead Books, 2022)
• Warrior of the Wind, Suyi Davies Okungbowa, (Orbit Books, 2023)

Novella

• Broken Paradise, Eugen Bacon (Luna Press Publishing, 2023)
• Land of the Awaiting Birth, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki and Joshua Uchenna Omenga (from Between Dystopias: The Road to Afropantheology, ed Oghenechovwe Ekpeki Donald and Joshua Uchenna Omenga, CAEZIK SF & Fantasy, 2023)
• The Lies of the Ajungo, Moses Ose Utomi (Tordotcom, 2023)
• Undulation, Stephen Embleton (Mothersound: The Sauútiverse Anthology, ed Wole Talabi, Android Press, 2023)

Short Story

• A Name is a Plea and a Prophecy, Gabrielle Emem Harry (Strange Horizons 14 August, 2023)
• Blackwater Children, Moustapha Mbacké Diop (Haven Speculative Fiction, Issue 7, Nov 2022)
• Destiny Delayed, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki (Asimov’s Science Fiction, Vol 46, May/June, 2022) Kɛrozin Lamp Kurfi by Victor Forna (Apex Magazine, 2023)
• Like Stars Daring to Shine, Somto Ihezue (Fireside Fiction, July 2022)
• Loom, Solomon Uhiara (Dark Matter Magazine No. 8, 2022)
• My Mother’s Love, Naomi Eselojor (Hexagon Issue 10 / Fall, 2022)
• Osimiri, Chinaza Eziaghighala (Fission #2: Volume 1, An Anthology of Stories from the British Science Fiction Association, BSFA & HWS Press, 2022)
• The Way of Baa’gh, Cheryl S. Ntumy (Mothersound: The Sauútiverse Anthology, Android Press, 2023)

Graphic Novel

• Die Strandloper, Daniël Hugo (Dream Press & Daniël Hugo, 2022)
• Grimm’s Assistant, Mamode Ogbewele (Mode Comics, 2023)
• WindMaker volume 1, Roye Okupe and artist Sunkanmi Akinboye and colourist Toyin Ajetunmobi. Cover Artist: Godwin Akpan (Dark Horse Comics, 2022)

The winners will be announced at a yet-to-be-disclosed venue and date.

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