Speculative Literature News
News from the Speculative Literature writing community, including items from Locus Magazine, SFWA, etc. Please contact us if you would like to suggest a news source.
The 2026 Philip K. Dick Award nominees have been announced:
- Sunward, William Alexander (Saga)
- Outlaw Planet, M.R. Carey (Orbit UK; Orbit US)
- Casual, Koji A. Dae (Tenebrous)
- The Immeasurable Heaven...
By Chisom Umeh
My first direct encounter with the Sauútiverse was in 2022 when, at the Ake Books...
Ark Press editor-in-chief Tony Daniel has announced the $10,000 inaugural Ark Press Prize winner is Ghostlands by Andrew Fox. Honorable mentions included Shrine by Graham Bradley, Centennial by Robert E. Hampson, and Independence '76...
The Must Read Books Team has shared that Sheila Williams, editor of Asimov's, has been hospitalized after suffering a brain aneurysm. Asimov's senior managing editor Emily Hockaday will act as interim editor as Williams recovers.
In their statement, Must Read Books...
Longtime SFF editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden retired from Tor on January 5, 2026. In his tenure at Tor he had served as VP, associate publisher, and editor-in-chief before shifting to editor-at-large in 2024. His influence and impact on the field is immeasurable and includes launching the careers...
The Libertarian Futurist Society (LFS) has announced the finalists for the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award for Best Classic Fiction.
- The Star Dwellers, James Blish (Avon / Faber & Faber)
- Brave New World, Aldous Huxley (Chatto & Windus...
The Heinlein Society has opened its 2026 scholarships for undergraduate students. The deadline to apply is 11:59 p.m. PDT on April 1, 2026. Applicants must be entering their sophomore, junior, or senior year in a four-year, accredited college in any country, and must submit a 500-1000 word essay...
David C. Kopaska-Merkel has been awarded The Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association (SFPA)'s President's Lifetime Service Award. The award is given for service throughout the years to an individual who has furthered the knowledge, appreciation and acceptance of the speculative poetry...
The LAcon V organizers have announced that Tracey Baptiste will be a special guest for the 84th World Science Fiction Convention. Baptiste is an award-winning author of twenty-six books for young readers, including the Jumbies series and a popular Minecraft tie-in novel; an author of nonfiction...
Author Terence M. Green, 78, died December 19, 2025, after a long battle with prostate cancer.
Terence Michael Green was born February 2, 1947 in Toronto, Canada. He worked as a high school English teacher from 1968-1999, then became a creative writing lecturer at Western University in...
French SF author Pierre Bordage, 70, died of a heart attack December 26, 2025.
Bordage was born January 29, 1955 in La Réorthe, Vendée, France. A significant luminary in French science fiction, he wrote more than 50 novels and over 50 short stories in his long and well-lauded ouvre. His...
The Speculative Literature Foundation (SLF) has announced an open call for original artwork combining fantasy and science fiction themes to be featured as its 2026 Illustration of the Year.
The deadline for submissions is January 31, 2026. The winner, to be announced in February 2026,...
The Bookseller and the Writer Beware site are among numerous sources reporting on recent emails which inundate the inboxes of writers, agents, publishers, and more. Many authors on various social media sites have also posted about receiving said emails. The scams often involve...
The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) announced and then modified Nebula Awards eligibility rules regarding works utilizing generative large language model (LLM) tools. The initial press release, dated December 19, 2025, was met with criticism from numerous members of the...
Conventions in Israel are usually held during the holidays, which are school vacations. This both allows young people in their teens to come to the conventions and lets parents bring along even younger children. The timing of the holidays this year meant that ICon had only two days...
R.F. Kuang announced in an Instagram story that she has withdrawn from the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature (EAFL), to be held in Dubai UAE from January 21 - 27, 2026, with respect for a call for a boycott of the UAE by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement.
In the...
The Bookseller has announced the winners of the inaugural British Audio Awards. Categories, titles, and authors of genre interest include:
Science Fiction & Fantasy
- WINNER: Queen B, Juno Dawson, narrated by...
The Speculative Literature Foundation (SLF) has announced Ryan Lerrik's The Definition of Yearning as the winner of the 2025 Diverse Writers Grant and Craig Noles's Murderous (Multi)Verses as the winner of the 2025 Diverse Worlds Grant.
Diverse Writers Grant and Diverse Worlds Grant are $...
MILESTONES
CHIARA BULLEN is now represented by Emily Barrett at the Blair Partnership. The Inn at the Foot of Mount Vengeance and another book sold to Anne Groell at Del Rey in a pre-empt via Jessica Mileo of Inkwell Management on behalf of The...
The inaugural The Muse Writers Conference was held Saturday, September 20 in person at the Sheraton Norfolk Waterside Hotel in Norfolk, Virginia. The one-day event had a capped attendance of one hundred attendees and sold out quickly. Guest speakers included authors Cassandra Rose Clarke...
Can*Con 2025 was held October 17-19 in person at the Brookstreet Hotel in Ottawa, Canada. Guests of honour were Kate Heartfield, Stephen Kotowych, and Premee Mohamed. A separate virtual Can*Con was held on April 12 with roughly one hundred attendees.
There were 500 in-person registered...
Adedapo Adeniyi (also goes by Dapo The Abstract) is a Nigerian artist working in literature, film and photography, music (DJ) as well as art curation and counterculture archiving. He expresses his art through abstract...
Adedapo Adeniyi (also goes by Dapo The Abstract) is a Nigerian artist working in literature, film and photography, music (DJ) as well as art curation and counterculture archiving. He expresses his art through abstract...
John Varley, 78, died December 10, 2025 in his home in Beaverton OR. He had COPD and diabetes.
John Herbert Varley, known to his friends as Herb, was born August 9, 1947 in Austin TX. He attended Michigan State University. His first novelette, Picnic on Nearside , released in 1974,...
Literary Hub has published an annual list of noteworthy books published in 2025 by small presses, reviewed by a selection of 40 contributors. The list was conceived in 2024 to complementThe New York Times annual 100 Notable Books list, which featured approximately 11% small or...
Winners of the 2025 Deutsche Science Fiction Preis, presented by Science Fiction Club Deutschland (SFCD), have been announced.
Best German-Language SF Novel:
- WINNER: Das zweigeteilte All, Ralph Alexander Neumüller (p.machinery)
The Cercador Prize has announced Jazmina Barrera's The Queen of Swords, translated by Christina MacSweeney (Two Lines), as its 2025 winner. The $1000 prize recognizes works of literature in translation as selected by a committee of independent booksellers based across the United...
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) has declined to hear the appeal of the plaintiffs in Little v. Llano County, who sought to challenge the removal of 17 works from public libraries in Texas, with authors of genre interest including Lauren Myracle and Maurice Sendak.
...The winners of the African Speculative Fiction Society (ASFS) 2025 Nommo Awards, given to works by Africans as defined by the ASFS and Nommo Awards Guidelines, were announced at a the 2025 Aké Arts & Book Festival Welcome Ceremony in Lagos and livestreamed on YouTube on November 20,...
Winners of the 2025 Goodreads Choice Awards, voted on by users of the site, have been announced. Winners of genre interest include:
Romantasy: Onyx Storm, Rebecca Yarros (Red Tower) 298,565 votes
Fantasy: Bury Our Bones in the...
The second annual Future Creation Workshop in Chongqing, held October 13-22, featured many improvements over the first workshop. What remained the same was the gathering of aspiring writers from around China to pursue dreams of publishing their work in their home country and the West....
The 51st World Fantasy Convention, held in combination with British Fantasycon, was held October 30 - November 2, 2025 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Brighton Metropole in blustery Brighton UK. Guests of honor were author Suniti Namjoshi, artist Vincent Chong, and publishers Vivian Cheung...
The 2026 Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund (TAFF), which will fund travel for a North American fan to the 2026 Eurocon in Germany, is open for nominations until February 1, 2026, 23:59 Pacific North West time.
TAFF was created in 1953 for the purpose of providing funds to bring well-known and...
The Clarion Workshop in San Diego CA has announced the instructors for its 2026 session: Andy Duncan, Elizabeth Hand, Grady Hendrix, Sarah Pinsker, Abbey Mei Otis, and Erin Roberts.Jac Jemc is faculty director.
The workshop will be held June 28, 2026 – August 8, 2026 at UC San Diego....
The Odyssey Writing Workshop has announced its online classes for 2026.
Melissa Scott will teach Worldbuilding in Fantastic Fiction from March 5 - April 2, 2026.
Barbara A. Barnett will teach All the World's a Page: Adapting Acting Techniques to Strengthen Your Fiction from...
The LAcon V organizers have announced that Terese Mason Pierre will be a special guest for the 84th World Science Fiction Convention. Pierre is an acclaimed Canadian writer who has worked to platform members of equity-deserving communities, chief programming officer and an editor for Augur...
Playwright and screenwriter Tom Stoppard, 88, died November 29, 2025 in Dorset, England.
Stoppard was born as Tomáš Sträussler in Zlín, Czechoslovakia, now the Czech Republic, on July 3, 1937. His family fled the imminent Nazi occupation and his mother, Martha, married a major in the...
The LAcon V organization team has announced via email that the 2026 Hugo Awards will feature Best Poem as its additional category.
LAcon V chair Joyce Lloyd said,
Speculative poetry has a long and storied tradition. Arguably the first works of speculative fiction were epic poems...
Canadian SF writer Jean-Louis Trudel, 58, died November 17, 2025.
Trudel was born in Toronto, Ontario. He began publishing short fiction in French as early as 1984. He wrote several genre works in English, and more have been translated. His short fiction and poetry has appeared in...
The Sidewise Award for Alternate History has announced a change in the judging panel beginning with the reading list for 2025 and 2026.
Three judges will be added to the panel: Andrea Horbinski, Alana Phelan, and Arturo Serrano. Returning judges include Matt Mitrovich, Kurt Sidaway, and...
Clarion West has announced that the 2026 Summer Six-Week Workshop will run virtually from June 21-August 1, 2026. The instructors will be Tara Campbell, Indrapramit Das, David Thomas Moore, and Rebecca Roanhorse.
Tuition is $3,600, and full and partial tuition scholarships will be...
Winners have been announced for the Frank R. Paul Awards, honoring outstanding work in book and magazine cover art.
Best Book Cover
- WINNER: Maurizio Manzieri for The Year's Top Hard Science Fiction Stories 8 by Allan Kaster, ed. (Infinivox...
The judges for the 2026 World Fantasy Awards have been empaneled.
The judges will read and consider eligible materials from 2025 between now (November 24, 2025) and April 30, 2026. Any materials not received by all five judges and Peter Dennis Pautz after April 30 will receive little or...
Sean Markey, publisher of Psychopomp,The Deadlands, andFantasy Magazine, has announced that Psychopomp will no longer be publishing novellas or novelettes, nonfiction on Psychopomp is on hiatus, and Fantasy Magazine will go on hiatus after its December issue.
...
Winners for the National Book Awards (NBA) were announced at the 76th National Book Awards Ceremony on November 19, 2025. Genre authors and works in categories with winners of interest include:
Fiction
- WINNER: The True True Story of Raja the Gullible...
The American Library Association (ALA) has announced the shortlists for the 2026 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence for the best fiction and nonfiction books for adult readers published in the U.S. in the previous year with three fiction and three non-fiction titles.
Titles of genre...
