We are pleased to announce the longlisted works for the 2021 BSFA Awards, in the categories of Best Artwork, Best Fiction for Younger Readers, Best Novel, Best Short Fiction, and Best Non-Fiction. Congratulations to all the longlistees. Shortlist voting is now open to BSFA members.
BEST ARTWORK LONGLIST
- Black Corporeal (Between This
Air), by Julianknxx
- Brick Lane Foundation, by Abbas
Zahedi
- Build or Destroy, by Rashaad
Newsome
- Cover of Danielle Lainton &
Louise Coquio (eds)'s Pashtarina's Peacocks: For Storm Constantine, by Ruby
- Cover of Eugen Bacon's Danged
Black Thing, by Peter Lo / Kara Walker
- Cover of Eugen Bacon's Saving
Shadows, Elena Betti / Ian Whates
- Cover of Storm Constantine (ed.)'s Shadows on the Hillside, by Danielle Lainton
- Cover of Jamie Mollart's Kings of
a Dead World, by Heike Schüssler
- Cover of Rian Hughes' The Back
Locomotive, by Rian Hughes
- Cover of Rosa Rankin-Gee's
Dreamland (artist’s name not given)
- Cover of Shift #3, by Mark
Montague
- Cover of Shift #7, by Ian D
Paterson
- Cover of Simon Jimenez's The
Vanished Bird (2021 paperback edition), artist’s name not given
- Cover of Suyi Davies Okungbowa's
Son of the Storm, by Dan dos Santos / Lauren Panepinto
- Cover of The Year's Best African
Speculative Fiction Anthology, Maria Spada
- Cover of Xueting Christine Ni
(ed.)'s Sinopticon, by Bradley Sharp
- Exhibition at 180 The Strand, by
Ryoji Ikeda
- Late Hangout at Zuko's, by Devin
Elle Kurtz and Gustavo Silvestre
- MILK, by STREF (Stephen White)
- Morando, by a'strict
- Narrow Escape, by Larry
MacDougall
- Renaissance Generative Dreams: AI
Cinema, by Refik Anadol
- Rupture No. 1, by Heather
Phillipson
- Shift Montage Poster, by Warwick Fraser-Coombe
- The Glasgow Green Woman (for
Glasgow in 24), by Iain Clark
- This Is The Future, by Hito
Steyerl
- Viscera, by Allissa Chan
BEST FICTION FOR YOUNGER
READERS LONGLIST- A Snake Falls to Earth, by Darcie
Little Badger
- All Our Hidden Gifts, by Caroline
O'Donoghue
- Iron Widow, by Xiran Jay Zhao
- Lionheart Girl, by Yaba Badoe
- Monsters of Rookhaven, by
Pádraig Kenny
- Redemptor, by Jordan Ifueko
- Show Us Who You Are (Knights Of),
Elle McNicoll
- Skywake: Invasion, by Jamie
Russell
- Stella's Stellar Hair, by Yesenia
Moises
- The Boy with Wings, by Lenny
Henry, Mark Buckingham
- The Empty Orchestra, by Elizabeth
Priest
- The False Rose, Jakob Wegelius,
trans. Peter Graves
- The Gilded Ones, by Namina Forna
- The Outrage, by William Hussey
- The Planet in a Pickle Jar, by
Martin Stanev
- The Raven Heir, by Stephanie
Burgis
- The Shadows of Rookhaven, by
Pádraig Kenny,
- The Stuff Between the Stars: How
Vera Rubin discovered most of the Universe, Sandra Nickel, illus. Aimée Sicuro
- Utterly Dark and the Face of the Deep, by Philip Reeve
- Victories Greater Than Death, by
Charlie Jane Anders
BEST NOVEL LONGLIST
- A Master of Djinn, by P. Djeli Clarke
- A Desolation Called Peace, by
Arkady Martine
- A Heart Divided, by Jin Yong
- Alien 3, by Pat Cadigan and
William Gibson
- All our Hidden Gifts, by Caroline
O'Donoghue
- All the Murmuring Bones, by A.G.
Slatter
- Anna, by Sammy HK Smith
- Artifact Space, by Miles Cameron
- Barbarians of the Beyond, by
Matthew Hughes
- Bewilderment, by Richard Powers
- Black Water Sister, by Zen Cho
- Blackthorn Winter, Liz Williams
- Blood Red Sand, by Damien Larkin
- Catalyst Gate, by Megan O'Keefe
- Cloud Cuckoo Land, by Anthony
Doerr
- Cwen, by Alice Albinia
- Darkest, by Paul L. Arvidson
- Discord's Shadow, by K. S.
Dearsley
- Dreamland, by Rosa Rankin-Gee
- Empire of the Vampire, by Jay
Kristoff
- Far From the Light of Heaven, by
Tade Thompson
- Fire of the Dark Triad, by Asya
Semenovich
- Firebreak, by Nicole
Kornher-Stace
- Four Dervishes, by Hammad Rind
- Fugitive Telemetry, by Martha
Wells
- Galactic Hellcats, by Marie
Vibbert
- Gardens of Earth, by Mark Iles
- Gutter Child, by Jael Richardson
- Iron Widow, by Xiran Jay Zhao
- Jade Legacy, Fonda Lee
- Kings of a Dead World, by Jamie
Mollart
- Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo
Ishiguro
- Machinehood, by S.B. Divya
- Murder at the Mushaira, by Raza
Mir
- My Brother the Messiah, by Martin
Vopenka
- New Gods, by Robin Triggs
- Notes from the Burning Age, by
Claire North
- On Fragile Waves, by E. Lily Yu
- One Day all This Will be Yours,
by Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Perhaps the Stars, by Ada Palmer
- Plague Birds, by Jason Sanford
- Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir
- Purgatory Mount, by Adam Roberts
- Remote Control, by Nnedi Okorofor
- Requiem Moon, by C. T. Rwizi
- Shadows of Darkness: Remnants of
Resistance, by Jonah S. White
- Shards of Earth, by Adrian
Tchaikovsky
- Skyward Inn, by Aliya Whiteley
- Son of the Storm, by Suyi Davies
Okungbowa
- Ten Low, by Stark Holborn
- Termination Shock, by Neal
Stephenson
- The Actual Star, by Monica Byrne
- The Actuality, by Paul Braddon
- The Chosen and the Beautiful, by
Nghi Vo
- The Fallen, by Ada Hoffmann
- The Green Man's Challenge, by
Juliet E McKenna
- The Jasmine Throne, by Tasha Suri
- The Kingdoms, by Natasha Pulley
- The Library of the Dead, by T.L.
Huchu
- The Maleficent Seven, by Cameron
Johnston
- The Past is Red, by Catherynne M.
Valente
- The Rage Room, by Lisa de
Nikolits
- The Raven Heir, by Stephanie
Burgis
- The Seep, by Chana Porter
- The Unravelling, by Benjamin
Rosenbaum
- The Upper World, by Femi Fadugba
- The Wisdom of Crowds, by Joe
Abercrombie
- This Is Our Undoing, by Lorraine
Wilson
- Three Twins at the Crater School,
by Chaz Brenchley
- Twenty-Five To Life, by RWW
Greene
- Wendy, Darling, by A. C. Wise
- You Sexy Thing, by Cat Rambo
BEST SHORT FICTION LONGLIST
- What is Mercy?, by Amal Singh
- A Blind Eye, by M. H. Ayinde
- Advanced Triggernometry, by Stark
Holborn
- An Array of Worlds as a Rose
Unfurling in Time, by Shreya Anasuya
- Clockwork Sister, by M.E. Rodman
- Dog and Pony Show, by Robert
Jeschonek
- Down and Out under the Tannhauser
Gate, by David Gullen
- Dream Eater, by Nemma Wollenfang
- Dreamports, by Tlotlo Tsamaase
- Efficiency, by Paolo Bacigalupi
- Fanfiction for a Grimdark
Universe, by Vanessa Fogg
- Fireheart Tiger, by Aliette de
Bodard
- First Person Singular, by Haruki
Murakami
- Fish, by Ida Keogh
- Flight, by Innocent Chizaram Ilo
- Her Garden, the Size of Her Palm,
by Yukimi Ogawa
- If The Martians Have Magic, by P.
Djeli Clark
- Just Enough Rain, by PH Lee
- Light Chaser, by Peter F Hamilton
and Gareth L Powell
- O2 Arena, by Oghenechovwe Donald
Ekpeki
- Proof, by Induction, by Jose
Pablo Iriarte
- Scars, by Bora Chung
- Secrets of the Kath, by Fatima
Taqvi
- Seven Horrors, by Fabio Fernandes
- Shutdown/Restart, by Jo
Ross-Barrett
- Sorry We Missed You!, by Aun-Juli
Riddle
- The Abomination, by Nuzo Onoh
- The Alien Invasion, by Ely Percy
- The Alien Stars, by Tim Pratt
- The Andraiad, by Tim Major
- The Best Damned Barbershop in
Hell, by Bruce Arthurs
- The Center of the Universe, by
Nadia Shammas
- The Chorus, by Aliya Whiteley
- The Constellation of Alarion, by
John Houlihan
- The Failing Name, by Eugen Bacon and Seb Doubinsky
- The Farmers and the Farmed, by
William C. Powell
- The Forlorn Hope, by Verity
Holloway
- The Future God of Love, by Dilman
Dila
- The Ghosts of Trees, by Fiona
Moore
- The Graveyard, by Eleanor Arnason
- The Hungry Dark, by Simon
Bestwick
- The Lay of Lilyfinger, by G.V.
Anderson
- The Man Who Turned Into Gandhi,
by Shovon Chowdhury
- The Metric, by David Moles
- The Museum For Forgetting, by
Peter M. Sutton
- The Plus One, by Marie Vibbert
- The Samundar Can be Any Color,
Fatima Taqvi, Flash Fiction Online
- The Song of the Moohee, by Emmett
Swan
- The Tale of Jaja and Canti, by
Tobi Ogundiran
- The Walls of Benin City, by M. H.
Ayinde
- Things Can Only Get Better, by
Fiona Moore
- White Rose, Red Rose, by Rachel
Swirsky
- Worldshifter, by Paul Di Filippo
- Zeno's Paradise, by E. J. Delaney
BEST NON-FICTION LONGLIST
- A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, by
George Saunders
- Blake's 7 Annual 1982, eds
Grahame Robertson and Carol Ramsay
- Cyberpunk Culture and Psychology:
Seeing Through the Mirrorshades, by Anna McFarlane
- Debarkle, by Camestros Felapton
- Diverse Futures: Science Fiction
and Authors of Colour, by Joy Sanchez-Taylor
- Extraterrestrial, by Avi Loeb
- Gendering Time, Timing Gender, by
PM Biswas
- Manifestos of Futurisms, by
Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay
- Octothorpe Podcast, by John
Coxon, Alison Scott, and Liz Batty
- On Writing Narratives,
Questioning Standards, and Oral Traditions in Storytelling, by K. S. Villoso
- Science Fiction and the Pathways
out of the COVID Crisis, by Val Nolan
- Science Fiction in Translation,
by Ian Campbell
- Science Fiction, by Sheryl Vint (MIT Press Essential Knowledge)
- Seduced, by the Ruler's Gaze: An
Indian Perspective on Seth Dickinson's Masquerade, by Sid Jain
- Space Forces: A Critical History
of Life in Outer Space, by Fred Scharmen
- Speculative Sex: Queering Aqueous
Natures and Biotechnological Futures in Larissa Lai's Salt Fish Girl, by Sarah
Bezan
- Star Warriors of the Modern Raj:
Materiality, Mythology and Technology of Indian Science Fiction, by Sami Ahmed
Khan
- Storylistening, by Sarah Dillon
and Claire Craig
- The Anthropocene in Frank
Herbert's Dune Trilogy, by Tara B.M. Smith
- The Anthropocene Unconscious:
Climate Catastrophe in Contemporary Culture, by Mark Bould
- The History of Science Fiction: A
Graphic Novel Adventure, by Xavier Dolla, illus. Djibril Morissette-Phan
- The Importance of Being
Interested, by Robin Ince
- World of Warcraft: New Flavors of
Azeroth, by Chelsea Monroe-Cassel
- Worlds Apart: Worldbuilding in
Fantasy and Science Fiction, ed. Francesca T Barbini
- Writing the Contemporary Uncanny,
by Jane Alexander
If you have any queries, please
get in touch with Chair@bsfa.co.uk.
With special thanks to Nicholas Whyte, for such fabulous work finding links and spotting errors.