The shortlists for the British Science Fiction Association’s BSFA Awards for works published in 2023 have been revealed and African writers were very well represented. Wole Talabi was on the shortlist for Best Novel for his Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon, Best Collection for Mothersound: The Sauútiverse Anthology which he edited, as well as Best Non-Fiction (Short) for Prisoners in the Temple of the Muses.
Also scoring double shortlists is Suyi Davies Okungbowa in Best Short Fiction for Lady Koi Koi: A Book Report, and Best Non-Fiction (Short) for Exposition Tax: The Hidden Burden of Writing from the Margins. And Eugen Bacon in Best Shorter Fiction for Broken Paradise and and Best Non-Fiction (Short) for Dominant Themes in Afro-centric Fiction.
Other writers with African heritage who also made the shortlists are P. Djèlí Clark, Best Short Fiction for How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub, and Chinelo Onwualu, Best Non-Fiction (Long) for Ex Marginalia: Essays on Writing Speculative Fiction by People of Colour.
The British Science Fiction Awards have been given yearly since 1970. The awards are voted on by members of the British Science Fiction Association and by the members of the year’s Eastercon, the national science fiction convention, held since 1955. This year’s Eastercon, Levitation, will be at the Telford Internationa Centre, 29th March to 1st April 2024, where the winners will be announced.
We wish all our African writers on the shortlist th ebest of luck!
