Big Congrats to Lauren Beukes - 2011 Winner of the Arthur C Clarke Award

The awards were announced while I was back home basking in the lovely sunshine! I was upset to miss the sci-fi festival on my doorstep. Lauren's novel, Zoo City took the award in what judge and author Jon Courtenay Grimwood described as the "clear winner".

"Zoo City filters brutal social honesty through a stunning imagination to produce a world recognisably ours and obviously different," he said. "The plotting is tight, the characterisation strong and the writing superb."

Published by Angry Robot (the small but impressive UK publishing house), Zoo City is set in South Africa in the Zoo City slum where urban magic prowls. While Zinzi December searches for missing pop starlet Songweza, he uncovers secrets that the local crime lord and dark magician wants to stay hidden.

Arthur C Clarke Award - 25th Anniversary

Check out the short list for the Arthur C Clarke Award which is celebrating its 25th Anniversary this year. If you fancy a decent sci-fi novel you can't go wrong with a novel nominated for this prestigious award:

The six shortlisted books are:

• Zoo City – Lauren Beukes (Angry Robot)
• The Dervish House – Ian McDonald (Gollancz)
• Monsters of Men – Patrick Ness (Walker Books)
• Generosity – Richard Powers (Atlantic Books)
• Declare – Tim Powers (Corvus)
• Lightborn – Tricia Sullivan (Orbit)

Commenting on this years shortlist, Award Director Tom Hunter said:

“The twenty-fifth anniversary of the Arthur C. Clarke Award was always going to be a landmark year, and we couldn’t have asked for a more fascinating and exciting shortlist to get the celebrations started.

“Fifty-four eligible books is one of the highest submission years we’ve ever had, and when you look at all of the reviews, debate and online commentary that’s surrounded many of these titles you can see just how hard the judges’ deliberations were this year.

“For me this list is a great indication of just how deep, rich and complex the literature of science fiction can be. I think this list is a definite keeper, as they say, and my hope is that twenty-five years from now people will still be coming back to it as a representation of everything that’s best about the diversity and strength of our genre.”

As mentioned in my last blog, the winner will be announced on Wednesday 27th April 2011 at the Sci-Fi Film Festival.