Wole Talabi is a finalist of the Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award 2022 announced on Tuesday, March 8, 2022.
The Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award, organised by Baen Books in partnership with the National Space Society, was first launched in 2007. It has been awarded to realistic hard science fiction about what can be achieved in space exploration in the next few decades, ranging from the colonization of Mars to asteroid mining, with a focus on hard science and optimism.
Judges for the award this year are author and space scientist Les Johnson, and the editorial staff of Baen Books, and entries were judged anonymously. They have announced the finalists for 2022 with ten writers making the cut including Wole Talabi.
Wole Talabi is a Nigerian author of speculative fiction and editor who has featured in several anthologies in the two roles. They include These Words Expose Us: An Anthology (2014), Futuristica, Vol. 1 (2016), Imagine Africa 500 (2016), Incomplete Solutions (2019), among others. His stories have been shortlisted for the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2018 and won the African Speculative Fiction Society’s Nommo Award in 2018.
The Nigerian-born writer was glib on being a finalist stating on Twitter, “Also just found out I’m the first African finalist in the 15 year history of the contest so that’s cool.”
This year’s winner will be honored at the 2022 International Space Development Conference, in Arlington, USA from May 27-29. In addition to the award, the winning story will be published at Baen.com, paid professional rates, and the author will receive membership in the National Space Society.
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