Locus News

The six-title shortlist has been announced for the 2026 Dublin Literary Award, now in its 31st year. Authors and titles of genre interest include Gliff by Ali Smith (Hamish Hamilton; Pantheon) [amazon / bookshop] and Perspective(s) by Laurent Binet, tr. Sam Taylor (Farrar, Straus) [amazon / bookshop].

The initial 69 nominated titles were nominated by 80 libraries from countries around the world. Titles eligible for the 2026 award were published …Read More

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PEN America has announced plans to launch a US Author Safety Program meant to protect against harassment and threats. Supporters include Hachette Book Group, Macmillan Publishers, Penguin Random House, David Baldacci, and the New York Community Trust, which have contributed nearly $1 million to the program thus far. PEN America is seeking further support and will hold an auction in spring 2026 to benefit the program.

The safety program follows …Read More

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Roger Zelazny (1937-1995) has been named the recipient of the fourth Infinity Award.

The award was created by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) to posthumously highlight the life and work of creators who achieved a distinct and tremendous legacy in science fiction and fantasy. Although they are no longer with us to celebrate this honor, these writers helped to lay the foundation for today's science fiction, fantasy, …Read More

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TheBaltimore Science Fiction Society (BSFS) has announced that The Book of Lost Hours by Hayley Gelfuso (Atria) [amazon / bookshop] is the 44th winner of the Compton Crook Award.

The other finalists were:

• A Song of Legends Lost, M.H. Ayinde (Saga) amazon / bookshop
• Sleeping Worlds Have No Memory, Yaroslav Barsukov (Caezik SF & Fantasy) amazon / bookshop
• All the Water in the World, Eiren Caffall (St. Martin's) amazon …Read More

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MILESTONES

SARA HASHEM is now represented by Chloe Seager at Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency. Hashem's Merciful Carnage, first in a dark fantasy romance duology, and another book went to Alyea Canada at Orbit via Jennifer Azantian of Azantian Literary Agency. UK rights sold to Jenni Hill at Orbit UK.

HANNAH WASTYK is now represented by Arley Sorg at kt literary.

OGHENECHOVWE DONALD EKPEKI has been hospitalized for a spinal fracture …Read More

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Finalists for the 17th-annual Xingyun Awards for Chinese science fiction were announced by the World Chinese Science Fiction Association on March 31, 2026. Titles have been translated by Hu Shaoyan, except where English titles were provided by the authors or publishers.

Best Novel

• Ocean Break, Chen Qiufan (Flower City)
• The Tale of a Loong's Metamorphosis, Hai Ya, Fengxing Chengzi (New Star)
• The Gun that Ends Beginnings, Liang Qingsan (People's …Read More

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Congratulations to all of the Locus Awards top ten finalists! These results are from the February 1 to April 1 voting by readers on an open public ballot.

The Locus Awards winners will be announced May 30, 2026, during the in-person Locus Awards Ceremony, held in the historic Hotel Shattuckin downtown Berkeley, California. Join MCs Sarah Gailey and Maggie Tokuda-Hall, plus guests of honor Tananarive Due,Stephen Graham Jones,andNnedi Okorafor, …Read More

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Katrina Kat Templeton has won the Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund (TAFF) to travel from Europe to North America to attend MetropolCon, the 2026 Eurocon, defeating Lisa Hertel.

There were 76 votes, 3 of which were submitted with no preference. The fund is currently administered by Sarah Gulde in North America and Mikołaj Kowalewski in Europe. Eurocon 2026 will be held July 2-5, 2026 in Berlin, Germany.

For more information, see the …Read More

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Fantasy illustrator MICHAEL HAGUE, 77, died March 10, 2026 in Colorado Springs CO.

Michael Riley Hague was born September 8, 1948 in Los Angeles CA. He attended the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles. He illustrated for numerous books, many of them classics, including L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz (1982), C.S. Lewis's The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (1983), J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit (1984), J.M. …Read More

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Fantasy author John Flanagan, 81, died February 7 of complications from non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

John Flanagan was born May 22, 1944 in Sydney, Australia. He worked in advertising and wrote TV sitcoms before publishing The Ruins of Gorlan, first in The Ranger's Apprentice series, in 2004. He then wrote The Burning Bridge (2005), The Icebound Land (2005), Oakleaf Bearers (2006), The Sorcerer in the North (2006), The Siege of Macindaw (2007), …Read More

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Joyelle McSweeney, author of the poetry collection Death Styles (Nightboat) [amazon / bookshop], is among the recipients announced for the 2026 Donald Windham-Sandy M. Campbell Literature Prize, recognized in the Poetry category.

The Windham-Campbell Prize was established in 2013 to call attention to literary achievement and provide writers with the opportunity to focus on their work independent of financial concerns. The prize is administered by Yale University, with …Read More

Anathema: Spec from the Margins, a speculative fiction magazine by and for queer people of color, has announced that it is relaunching after a four-year hiatus.

We're committed to supporting marginalized writers by paying them a professional rate for their work. To feature up to 4 stories, 4 poems, and 1 nonfiction piece per issue, we plan to pay:

• $0.08/word for fiction up to 6,000 words
• $0.05/word …Read More

The Horror Writers Association (HWA) has announced the recipients of its 2025 Lifetime Achievement Awards: Jonathan Maberry and Lisa Morton. The awards will be presented on June 6, 2026, during the Bram Stoker Awards at StokerCon®2026 in Pittsburgh PA.

The Lifetime Achievement Award is presented periodically to an individual whose work has substantially influenced the horror genre. While this award is often presented to a writer, it may also …Read More

SF writer and television producer ROB GRANT, 70, died February 25, 2026.

Robert Grant was born September 25, 1955 in Lancashire, England. He attended Liverpool University and wrote for BBC radio. He co-wrote with Doug Naylor the TV series Red Dwarf and several tie-in works of fiction, including Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers (1989), Better Than Life (1990), and script collection Primordial Soup (1993), under the name Grant Naylor. He wrote …Read More

The winners of the 2025 British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) Awards have been announced.

BestNovel

• WINNER: When There Are Wolves Again, E.J. Swift (Arcadia) amazon / bookshop

• A Granite Silence, Nina Allan (Riverrun) amazon
• Project Hanuman, Stewart Hotston (Angry Robot) amazon / bookshop
• Edge of Oblivion, Kirk Weddell (Troubador)
• The Salt Oracle, Lorraine Wilson (Solaris)

Best Shorter Fiction (for novelettes and novellas)

• WINNER: …Read More

Outlaw Planet by M.R. Carey (Orbit UK; Orbit US) [amazon / bookshop] was announced as the winner of the 2026 Philip K. Dick Award on April 3, 2026 at Norwescon 48. In addition, Uncertain Sons and Other Stories by Thomas Ha (Undertow) [amazon / bookshop] received a special citation. Other nominees for the award included:

• Sunward, William Alexander (Saga) amazon / bookshop
• Casual, Koji A. Dae (Tenebrous) amazon / …Read More

The National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) has announced the winners for the 2025 NBCC awards for books published in English (including translations) in the United States. Titles and authors of genre interest among the winners include We Do Not Part by Han Kang, tr. Paige Aniyah Morris & e. yaewon (Hogarth).

Committee chair Heather Scott Partington said the novel presents

a work of blinding melancholy, bleak weather, and murmuring syntax. …Read More

The shortlist for the 2026 Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire, honoring the best SF/F work published in France in 2025, has been announced.

French Novel

• Festin de larmes, Morgane Caussarieu & Vincent Tassy (ActuSF)
• Aatea, Anouck Faure (Argyll)
• Tovaangar, Céline Minard (Rivages)
• Sintonia, Audrey Pleynet (Le Bélial')
• Une vie de saint, Christophie Siébert (Au Diable Vauvert)

Foreign Novel

• Le Chant des noms [The Naming Song], Jedediah Berry, tr. …Read More

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association has named its 13th Grand Master, the multi-talented Ruth Berman.

Ruth Berman's speculative poetry has appeared in Asimov's, Amazing Stories, Analog, Aliens and Lovers, Burning With A Vision, Fungi, Tales of the Unanticipated, Weird Tales, Worlds of Fantasy and Horror, Star*Line, and other magazines and anthologies. As a translator from French, she has placed work in Space & Time, Tales of the …Read More

SF writerJOSEPH L. GREEN, 95, died February 20, 2026 in Florida.

Joseph Lee Green was born January 14, 1931 in Compass Lake FL. He earned a BA from the University of Alabama. He worked in the American space program for 37 years, retiring from NASA as Deputy Chief of the Education Office at Kennedy Space Center.

Green began publishing SF professionally as early as 1962 in short form. He produced …Read More