Locus News

TheScience Fiction Research Association (SFRA) has announced the 2026 winners of its annual book awards.

The SFRA Award for Lifetime Contributions to SF Scholarship

• Istvan Csicsery-Ronay, Jr.

The SFRA Innovative Research Award

• Growth, Resource, Population: The GRP Triangle in Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction by Female Writers. , Regina Kanyu Wang (SFRA Review Summer '25)

Thomas D. Clareson Award for Distinguished Service

• Patrick Sharp

…Read More

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Clive Barker and Joyce Carol Oates have been announced as the recipients of the 2026 World Fantasy Awards for Lifetime Achievement, presented annually to individuals who have demonstrated outstanding service to the fantasy field. The final ballot for the 2026 World Fantasy Awards was previously announced.

The awards will be presented during the 2026 World Fantasy Convention, to be held October 22-25, 2026 in Oakland CA.

For more information, see …Read More

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The Mythopoeic Society announced the 2026 Mythopoeic Awards winners during Mythcon 54, held July 24-27, 2026 in Weatherford OK.

Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature

• WINNER: Snake-Eater, T. Kingfisher (47North)

• The Charlatan Duology, Holly Black (Tor)
• Audition for the Fox, Martin Cahill (Tachyon)
• The Bright Sword, Lev Grossman (Viking)
• The West Passage, Jared Pechaček (Tordotcom)
• Water Moon, Samantha Sotto Yambao (Del Rey)
• The Incandescent, Emily Tesh (Tor)

…Read More

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The National Fantasy Fan Federation(N3F) has announced the winners of the2026 National Fantasy Fan Federation Laureate Awards(AKA the Neffy Awards).

Best Novel

• All That We See or Seem, Ken Liu (Saga)

Best Shorter Work or Anthology

• The Dagger in Vichy, Alastair Reynolds (Subterranean)

Best Poem or Collection

• Entropocene, Jean-Paul L. Garnier (Space Cowboy)

Best Editor

• Toni Weisskopf (Baen Books)

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The Queensland Writers Centre (QWC) has updated the entry guidelines for the 2026 Aurealis Awards, established to recognize the best in Australian speculative fiction, making changes including expanded terms for entry fees.

The Aurealis Awards were established in 1995 by Chimaera Publications, the team behind the magazine Aurealis. The Awards later partnered with different organizations to administer them. According to the Aurealis Awards web page, these have included Fantastic Queensland, …Read More

The post Aurealis Awards Changes appeared first on Locus.

Dragon Con has announced the ballot for the 2026 Dragon Awards.

Best Science Fiction Novel

• God's Junk Drawer, Peter Clines (Blackstone)
• The Faith of Beasts, James S.A. Corey (Orbit)
• Operation Bounce House, Matt Dinniman (Ace)
• Radiant Star, Ann Leckie (Orbit US)
• Slow Gods, Claire North (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• The Shattering Peace, John Scalzi (Tor; Tor UK)

Best Fantasy Novel (Including Paranormal)

• Twelve Months, Jim Butcher (Ace)

…Read More

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Dream Foundry, a non-profit dedicated to bolstering the careers of nascent professionals working with the speculative arts, hasannounced the finalists for its 2026 contests.

Writing Contest

• Ooreoluwa O. Agbede
• Sara Ang
• N.A. Blair
• Tomás Xavier Díaz
• Angela Luo
• Natalie Anai Nowo Lydick
• Fatima Masood
• Femi Salami
• Ashleigh Spencer
• Plamen Ivanov Vasilev

Art Contest

• River Barton
• Ginger Bertoni
• Emelia Feldman
• Javiera Díaz
• Sierra Eston
• Olive Humphrey
• Niko Kristic

…Read More

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The World Fantasy Awards ballot for works published in 2025 has been announced. The awards will be presented during the 2026 World Fantasy Convention, scheduled for October 22-25, 2026 in Oakland CA.

The World Fantasy Awards finalists are:

Best Novel

• Audition for the Fox, Martin Cahill (Tachyon)
• Once Was Willem, M.R. Carey (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• The Secret Market of the Dead, Giovanni De Feo (Saga)
• The Everlasting, Alix …Read More

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Ursula K. Le Guin's longtime residence at 3321 NW Thurman St. in Portland, Oregon has been added to the National Register of Historic Places in recognition of its significance to American literature and women's history.

During the 58 years she spent in the distinctive Queen Anne-style home until her death in 2018, Le Guin wrote many of the novels that have since been canonized among the most celebrated classics …Read More

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The 13-title longlist for the 2026 Booker Prize has been announced, with works and writers of genre interest including:

The End of Everything, M. John Harrison (Serpent's Tail)

The Renovation, Kenan Orhan(Hamish Hamilton)

The Vivisectors, Missouri Williams(4th Estate)

Helen of Nowhere, Makenna Goodman (Coffee House)

Switzy, Emma Cline (Random House)

The Disappearers, Marlon James (Riverhead)

The shortlist will be announced September 22, 2026. Shortlisted authors receive £2,500. The winner will …Read More

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The North Carolina Speculative Fiction Foundation (NCSFF) has announced the winner for the 2026 Manly Wade Wellman Award. The award recognizes outstanding achievement in science fiction and fantasy novels written by North Carolina authors.

• WINNER: Transmentation: Transience, Darkly Lem (Blackstone)

• The Unseen, Ania Ahlborn (Gallery)
• Last Chance Live!, Helena Haywoode Henry (Nancy Paulsen)
• Infinite Archive, Mur Lafferty (Ace)
• The Coming Dark, D.J. Molles (Self-published)
• Labyrinth, A.G. …Read More

Winners for the2026 Imadjinn Awardshave been announced. Winners were selected by jury and announced at theImaginarium Convention, held July 17-19, 2026 at the Holiday Inn Louisville East in Louisville KY.

Best Science Fiction Novel

• WINNER: 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

• WINNER: Rise From …Read More

Fan and organizer Robin Johnson, 89, died July 6, 2026 in Ballarat, Australia of underlying causes after a fall.

Johnson was born March 9, 1937 and lived variously in Melbourne, Sydney, Hobart, and Ballarat, as well as in England. He chaired the first Australian Worldcon in 1975 as well as Thylacons 1-3. He was awarded the Ditmar Awards Special Award in 1974 and in 1983, and he received the Big …Read More

Dark Carnival, the second oldest science fiction bookstore in the US, will be celebrating its 50th anniversary on Saturday, August 1, 2026 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at its longtime location on Claremont Avenue in Berkeley, CA.

The sprawling establishment, which specializes in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and mystery books-as well as comics through its next-door sister store, Escapist Comics-first opened its doors in 1976, resiliently weathering challenges including …Read More

Russell Kirkpatrick, 65, died June 26, 2026 in Canberra Hospital. He was diagnosed with aggressive melanoma.

Kirkpatrick was born April 11, 1961 in Christchurch, New Zealand. He received a PhD in geography from the University of Canterbury and was at separate times a lecturer at the University of Waikato and the University of Canberra. He wrote the Fire of Heaven series and the Husk series, the latter known as Broken …Read More

Titan US publicity director Katharine T. Carroll, 68, died June 28, 2026. The cause was attributed to aortic dissection.

Carroll was born Katharine Trowbridge in January 1958. She attended Manhattan Country School, Riverdale Country School, and Boston University and lived in New York City and Maine. She began work as a publicist in 1980 with Time Inc., formed her own publicity consulting company in 1990, then joined Titan Publishing Group's …Read More

On July 20, the US District Court for the Northern District of California granted final approval of the $1.5 billion settlement proposed in class action suit Bartz v. Anthropic PBC, in which authors accused the Amazon-backed company of illegally obtaining and using their books to teach its AI system.

According to a Bloomberg report, Bartz v. Anthropic is the largest copyright class action settlement in US history, paying about $3,100 …Read More

Westercon 80, to be held in 2028 by the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society (LASFS) in conjunction withLoscon 54, will officially be the final Westercon after voters at its2026 business meeting ratified a motion to repeal its bylaws. Following Loscon 54/Westercon 80, the convention will be deemed to have 'returned its charter' to the owner of the Westercon service mark, LASFS, which will determine its future going forward.

Westercon's press …Read More

Following a careful review, Apex Magazine has removed the story Vigil of the Tenth Air from Apex #153 amid skepticism around the author's potential use of AI tools for its writing.

Though ultimately not selected for publication, a shortlisted story for Apex imprint Violet Lichen's upcoming ECO25: the Year's Best Speculative Ecofiction was also struck from website listings after it came to light that other work associated with the author's …Read More

Noidanlanka by J. S. Meresmaa (Myllylahti), is the winner of the 2026 Tähtifantasia Award, presented by the Helsinki Science Fiction Society for the best Finnish fantasy book published in the previous year. Other nominees were:

• Kuulotorvi, Leonora Carrington, tr. by Kristiina Drews (Kosmo)
• Lumenlaulaja, Emmi Itäranta (Teos)
• Kun aurinko kuoli, Yan Lianke, tr. Riina Vuokko (Rìxī)
• Vahalapsi, Olga Ravn, tr. Sanna Manninen (Voksbarnet)

The 2026 jurors were Jukka …Read More