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 Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) has announced Gay Haldeman as the winner of the 2026 Kevin O'Donnell, Jr. Service to SFWA Award. The award is presented for outstanding work on behalf of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association.
The announcement notes...
SF and mystery writer, reviewer, and essayist James Sallis, 81, died January 27, 2026 in Phoenix AZ of a long-term illness.
James Sallis was born December 21, 1944 in Helena AR. He taught at Phoenix College, Otis College, and the Piper Center. He published well over 100 pieces of...
On February 2, 2026, Neil Gaiman released a blog post denying the accusations of sexual misconduct made against him, the first public statement in almost a year from the author regarding the allegations, according to Variety.
As covered earlier by Locus, in August and September...
On January 24, 2026, DreamHaven Books owner Greg Ketter visited the site of the murder of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis MN and protested at an intersection guarded by ICE. ICE threw several canisters of tear gas into the crowd. According to a Facebook post written by Ketter,
I had no gas...
The 2025 Aurealis Awards shortlist, recognizing the best in Australian speculative fiction, has been announced.
Best Science Fiction Novel
- Letters to Our Robot Son, Cadance Bell (Ultimo)
- Arborescence, Rhett Davis (...
The five-title shortlist for the annual Tähtivaeltaja Award has been announced, honoring the best science fiction published in Finland. The award is sponsored by Helsingin Science Fiction Seura (Helsinki Science Fiction Society). The nominees are:
- Königsbergin kyky rakastaa...
Welcome to the LocusRecommended Reading List…
We saw some fabulous books come out last year and are so pleased to let you know about them! Our recommendations are compiled annually by the Locus reviewers, editors, and columnists; outside reviewers; and other...
Locus is thrilled to announce two of the field's talented and award-winning authors, Tananarive Due and Stephen Graham Jones, will be headlining the 2026 Locus Awards as Guests of Honor this May. Novelists Due (The Reformatory, a NYT Notable...
The Horror Writers Association (HWA) has announced the preliminary ballot for the 2025 Bram Stoker Awards.
Superior Achievement in a Novel
- Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng, Kylie Lee Baker (Mira; Hodder & Stoughton as...
The American Library Association (ALA) announced the winners of the Youth Media Awards at a press conference held on January 26, 2026 in Chicago IL and virtually.
The Alex Awards for the ten best adult books that appeal to teen audiences went to multiple works and authors of genre...
John Mecklin, editor-in-chief of theBulletin of the Atomic Scientists, has announced the winners of theBulletin's first short fiction contest, Write Before Midnight. Judge Kim Stanley Robinson declared a seven-way tie between:
- The Hard Problem , Beston Barnett...
Vector 298 (Nov 2023) is now unsealed: bit.ly/Vector298
As the guest editors Stewart...
The National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) has announced the finalists for the 2025 NBCC awards for books published in English (including translations) in the United States. Authors and titles of genre interest include:
Criticism
- One Day, Everyone Will...
Tor Publishing Group has announced a new imprint, Wildthorn Books. The imprint will focus on commercial stories that are irresistible, genre-blending and genre-bending. Categories and genres published under the imprint will include commercial and upmarket women's fiction, suspense, paranormal...
Nominees have been announced for the 2026 Splatterpunk Awards, honoring superior achievement in the literary sub-genres of Splatterpunk and Extreme Horror fiction in 2025.
Best Novel
- Janitors vs. The Living Dead, Michelle Garza & Melissa...
Winners for the 2024 Analog Analytical Laboratory (AnLab) Award and the 2024 Asimov's Readers' Awards have been announced.
The Analog AnLab Awards winners are:
Best Novella
- WINNER: Uncle Roy's Computer Repairs and Robot Parts , Martin...
MILESTONES
KIT MAYQUIST is now represented by Arley Sorg of kt literary.
FIONA ERSKINE is now represented by John Jarrold Literary Agency.
TERRI TE TAU has been appointed as a Creative New Zealand Emerging Māori...
Must Read Magazines has announced in a press release that it has revised the boilerplate language in writers' contracts for Analog,Asimov's, andF&SF. They say that the new changes target concerns raised by the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA...
Former literary agent Patrick Delahunt, 72, died December 23, 2025.
Patrick Flanagan Delahunt was born March 23, 1953 in Milwaukee WI. He entered publishing and was the original agent for multiple SF and fantasy authors, including Karen Joy Fowler and Kim Stanley Robinson. He is survived...
The A.C. Bose Grant for South Asian Speculative Literature is open to applications through January 31, 2026. The grant provides $1,500 to a South Asian or Desi diaspora writer developing speculative fiction , with preference given to work that is accessible to older children and teens.
...
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...
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.
...
