African Authors Dominate The 2024 Locus Awards Finalists List

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The Locus Science Fiction Foundation has announced the top ten finalists in each category of the 2024 Locus Awards. 

Among the ten finalists in each category are: Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (Ghanaian-American), Wole Talabi (Nigerian), Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki (Nigerian), Eugen Bacon (Tanzanian-Australian), Pjali Clark, (Egyptian-American), Nnedi Okorafor (Nigerian-American), Tobi Ogundiran (Nigerian), Premee Mohamed (South African), Moses Ose Utomi (Nigerian), Uchechukwu Nwaka (Nigerian), Chinelo Onwalu (Nigerian) making the Africans proud once again.

The selected Africans and books in their categories are:

FIRST NOVEL

  • Chain-Gang All-Stars, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah 
  • Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon, Wole Talabi 

NOVELLA

  • The Lies of the Ajungo, Moses Ose Utomi

NOVELETTE

  • What I Remember of Oresha Moon Dragon Devshrata, P. Djèlí Clark
  • At Every Door a Ghost, Premee Mohamed
  • The Rainbow Bank, Uchechukwu Nwaka

SHORT STORY

  • How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub, P. Djèlí Clark
  • Stones, Nnedi Okorafor

COLLECTION

  • Jackal, Jackal, Tobi Ogundiran
  • No One Will Come Back For Us, Premee Mohamed

ANTHOLOGY

  • Mothersound: The Sauútiverse Anthology, Wole Talabi  (editor)
  • The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction (2022), Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki & Eugen Bacon & Milton Davis, eds

NON FICTION

  • Ex Marginalia: Essays on Writing Speculative Fiction by Persons of Color, Chinelo Onwualu

The Locus Awards are an annual set of literary awards voted on by readers of the science fiction and fantasy magazine Locus, a monthly magazine based in Oakland, California. The awards are presented at an annual banquet. In addition to the plaques awarded to the winners, publishers of winning works are honoured with certificates, which is unique in the field.

The Locus Awards winners will be announced June 22, 2024, during the in-person Locus Awards Ceremony, held in the historic Nile Hall at Preservation Park in downtown Oakland, California.

Congratulations to all finalists!

Bongiwe T. Maphosa

Bongiwe T. Maphosa

Bongiwe Maphosa is a budding author with a passion for storytelling. With her thought-provoking narratives, she takes her readers on a literary adventure. Bongiwe's works on the human condition from a fresh perspective have earned her recognition and publications in the Avbob Poetry Anthology of 2019, The Writer's Club of South Africa 2021, and JAY Lit in 2021. She hopes to cement her place in the literary community.