Tanzanian-Australian author Eugen Bacon has won the 2025 Locus Award for Best Non-Fiction for her acclaimed anthology Afro-Centered Futurisms in Our Speculative Fiction.
Presented by the Locus Science Fiction Foundation during its annual awards weekend in Seattle, the award highlights Bacon’s continued contribution to global speculative discourse and the growing visibility of African literary voices on the world stage.
Afro-Centered Futurisms in Our Speculative Fiction, published by Bloomsbury Academic, is an unusually fascinating book that explores and interrogates Afro-centered futurism’s impact on the diaspora. With its chapter-based arrangement, the book draws on ideas involving popular culture, politics, society, gender, sexuality, spirituality, and African history.
Her recognition was part of a broader celebration of African excellence at the Locus Awards this year, which also saw Nigerian author Wole Talabi named a double finalist. Talabi was nominated in the Best Collection category for Convergence Problems and in Best Novelette for Encore, published in Deep Dream: Science Fiction Exploring the Future of Art.
Tlotlo Tsamaase, a speculative fiction writer from Botswana, was a finalist for Best First Novel with Womb City, a futuristic narrative weaving environmental issues, social justice, and speculative feminism.
Nnedi Okorafor, the Nigerian-American writer of science fiction and fantasy for both children and adults was also among the finalists. Her novella She Who Knows, published by DAW, was nominated in the Best Novella category
Held annually, the Locus Awards are among the most respected honors in speculative literature. The 2025 edition saw a strong mix of emerging and established voices, and for African speculative creators, it proved to be a breakthrough moment on the international stage.
Congratulations Eugen Bacon, Wole Talabi, Tlotlo Tsamaase, and Nnedi Okorafor on your big win!
Bakare Oluwatobiloba
I write to educate, motivate and define history with literature. Just being me!
