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Hellcon, the 64th Japan Science Fiction Convention, has announced the finalists for the 2025 Seiun Awards (the Japanese equivalent of the Hugo Awards), honoring the best original and translated works published last year in Japan.

Best Translated Novel

• The Cautious Traveller's Guide to the Wastelands, Sarah Brooks, tr. Yasuko Kawano (Hayakawa Bunko SF)
• The Book of Elsewhere, China Miéville & Keanu Reeves, tr. Masayuki Uchida & Rei Yasuno (Kawade …Read More

Luminous by Silvia Park (Simon & Schuster) is the winner of the 2025 Otherwise Award (formerly the James Tiptree, Jr. Award), given annually to works of science fiction or fantasy that expand and explore our understanding of gender.

The author of the winning work will receive $200 in prize money and a medal, and will be honored at WisCon 2026, to be held online May 21-25, 2026.

The …Read More

The shortlist for the 2026 International Dylan Thomas Prize has been announced. The six-title list includes genre books Open, Heaven by Seán Hewitt (Jonathan Cape; Vintage) and Under the Blue by Suzannah V. Evans (Bloomsbury Poetry).

The annual Dylan Thomas prize, in partnership with Swansea University, awards £20,000 the best published literary work in the English language, written by an author aged 39 or under. This year's judges are …Read More

Finalists for the 2026 Imadjinn Awards have been announced. Categories, titles, and authors of genre interest include:

Best Science Fiction Novel

• Dead to Rights: A Car Warriors Autoduel Novel, Jay Barnson (Three Ravens)
• Frozen Echoes, Ed Downes (Undertaker)
• Bifrost Down, Jon R. Osborne (Seventh Seal)

Best Fantasy Novel

• The Blacksmith's Boy, Bruce Buchanan (Wild Ink)
• The Healer's Heir, Katie Fitzgerald (self-published)
• A Count of Courage, Nancy Moser …Read More

Hachette Book Group has cancelled the upcoming US release and will discontinue the UK release of horror novel Shy Girl by Mia Ballard after reviewing the text for signs of generative AI use.

Shy Girl was self-published in February 2025 and republished in November in the UK by Hachette imprint Wildfire. NielsenIQ BookData measured the UK sales at approximately 1,800 print copies. According toThe Guardian, the book was recently …Read More

When the Tides Held the Moon by Venessa Vida Kelley (Erewhon) is one of the five titles shortlisted for the inaugural James Patterson and Bookshop.org Prize, a new literary prize celebrating debut authors, hand-selected by independent booksellers.

Titles, which must be full-length debut books published in the United States within the past 12 months, are nominated by booksellers working in qualifying independent bookstores. The winner and runner-up, which receive …Read More

The shortlists for the 2026 Carnegie Medal for Writing and Carnegie Medal for Illustration, honoring UK books for children and young adults, were announced March 10, 2026. Titles and authors of genre interest include:

Carnegie Medal for Writing

• Ghostlines, Katya Balen (Bloomsbury Children's)
• Popcorn, Rob Harrell (Dial US; Piccadilly UK)
• The Boy I Love, William Hussey (Walker US; Andersen UK)
• Wolf Siren, Beth O'Brien (HarperCollins Children's)
• Twenty-Four Seconds from …Read More

Baen Books has announcedthe ten finalists for the 2026 Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award.

• Thomas Butler
• Jason P. Crawford
• Joyce Frohn
• Liam Hogan
• Philip Levin
• Paul Malory
• Joel C. Scoberg
• Gideon Smith
• Tiffany Smith
• Wesley Stine

Winners receive a year's membership in the National Space Society, and the first place story will be offered publication on the Baen website at professional rates. According …Read More

The Climate Fiction Prize has announced its inaugural shortlist. Founded by Rose Goddard, Imran Khan, and Leo Barasi and supported by Climate Spring, the prize seeks to celebrate the most inspiring novels tackling the climate crisis.

Shortlisted titles and authors of genre interest include:

• Dusk, Robbie Arnott (Astra House US; Chatto & Windus UK; Picador Australia)
• Awake in the Floating City, Susanna Kwan (Pantheon US; Simon & Schuster …Read More

The IAFA is pleased to announce that the winner of this year's Crawford Award isCall and Response (Neon Hemlock) by Christopher Caldwell.

The Crawford Award, given by the International Association of the Fantastic in the Arts, recognizes an outstanding writer whose first fantasy book was published during the previous calendar year.

The judges were Joyce Chng, Eddie Clark, Joy Sanchez-Taylor, and Brian Attebery. Kelly Robson is award administrator. …Read More

The Horror Writers Association (HWA) has announced the recipients of its 2026 Specialty Awards.

Bad Hand Books is the recipient of the Specialty Press Award, given to a specialty publisher whose work has substantially contributed to the horror genre, whose publications display general excellence, and whose dealings with authors have been fair and exemplary.

The Richard Laymon President's Award, presented to a volunteer who has served the HWA in …Read More

PEN America announced the 2026 finalists for ten literary awards on January 29, 2026. The awards will confer nearly $350,000 to writers and translators. ... Spanning fiction, poetry, essay, translation, and more, these Longlisted books are dynamic, diverse, and thought-provoking examples of literary excellence. Awards, titles, and authors of genre interest include:

PEN/Jean Stein Book Award ($75,000)

• The Devil Is a Southpaw, Brandon Hobson (HarperCollins)
• Things in Nature Merely …Read More

The 5-title shortlist for the 2026 Aspen Words Literary Prize has been announced. Titles and authors of genre interest includeThe True Story of Raja the Gullible (And His Mother) by Rabih Alameddine (Grove),Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (Flatiron), and Intemperance by Sonora Jha (HarperVia).

The winner will be announced April 23, 2026. The $35,000 prize is awarded to an influential work of fiction that illuminates a vital contemporary …Read More

The Lambda Literary Foundation has announced the finalists for the 38th Annual Lambda Literary Awards (the Lammys ), celebrating the best lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender books. Categories, authors, and titles of genre interest include the following:

LGBTQ+ Speculative Fiction

• Volatile Memory, Seth Haddon (Tordotcom)
• Cry, Voidbringer, Elaine Ho (Bindery)
• Beings, Ilana Masad (Bloomsbury)
• Two Truths and a Lie, Cory O'Brien (Pantheon)
• Blood on Her Tongue, Johanna …Read More

Zando announced the launch of Evil Twin, a new imprint focusing on horror, from psychological twists to supernatural terror and bone-chilling gore, in February 2026.

According to Publishers Weekly, Nancy Trypuc, deputy director of marketing at Zando, will be the publishing director. Masie Cochran, editorial director, and Hayley Wagreich, director of original development, will oversee acquisitions.

Zando CEO Molly Stern said,

As we have with Slowburn, Zando is building on …Read More

Nancy Omondi is the recipient of this year's Working Class Writers Grant, presented by the Speculative Literature Foundation (SLF). The $1,000 grant is given annually to assist working class, blue-collar, poor, and homeless writers who have been historically underrepresented in speculative fiction due to financial barriers which make it hard to access the writing world.

Nancy Omondi is a Kenyan speculative fiction writer whose work is defined by atmosphere …Read More

Writer and organizer M.R. Hilde Hildebrand, 80, died in her home in Glendale AZ on March 4, 2026, after entering home hospice care for rheumatoid arthritis in 2025.

Hildebrand was born in 1946. In the 1970s, she became an active member, organizer, and host in Phoenix AZ fandom, working to help with conventions including Leprecon, Coppercon, and the 1978 Worldcon. She ran staff lounges and a book-selling service at various …Read More

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) has released the finalists for the 2025 Nebula Awards.

Novel

• When We Were Real, Daryl Gregory (Saga)
• The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, Stephen Graham Jones (Saga; Titan UK)
• Katabasis, R.F. Kuang (Harper Voyager US; Harper Voyager UK)
• Death of the Author, Nnedi Okorafor (Morrow; Gollancz)
• The Incandescent, Emily Tesh (Tor; Orbit UK)
• Sour Cherry, Natalia Theodoridou (Tin House; Wildfire)
• Wearing the Lion, …Read More

CURTIS C. CHEN is now represented by Sara Megibow of Megibow Literary Agency.

JOSUE OF PACHUCA is now represented by Arley Sorg of kt literary.

MARTHA WELLS was presented the Alamo Literary Arts Maintenance Organization Copperhead Award at AggieCon 55 for contributions to Texas fandom.

STEPHEN KING and PETER STRAUB sold Other Worlds Than These, the final book of the Talisman Trilogy, to …Read More

Short fiction writer and editor Lee Martindale died March 10, 2026 after a brief illness.

Martindale was born in 1949 and raised in rural Kentucky. She sold her first story, YearBride , in 1992 at the age of 43. Her stories have since appeared in many magazines and anthologies, including the Sword and Sorceress anthology series, Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy, Sorcerous Signals, Bubbas of the Apocalypse (2001), Catopolis (2008), Chicks …Read More