The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association announced the winners of its Nebula Awards, given each year to outstanding works in those genres.
R.F. Kuang took home the award for best novel for Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution, her dark academia novel about a Chinese orphan raised in England who becomes a linguistics student and joins a secretive group working against British imperialism.
In a starred review, a critic for Kirkus said the novel is “ambitious and powerful while displaying a deep love of language and literature.”
C.L. Polk won the best novella prize for Even Though I Knew the End, their book about a warlock detective on the trail of a serial killer in Chicago. Polk was previously nominated twice for the best novel award for Witchmark and The Midnight Bargain.
The Andre Norton Nebula Award, given to a work of middle-grade or young adult fiction, went to K. Tempest Bradford for Ruby Finley vs. the Interstellar Invasion, while John Chu won the novelette prize for “If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God With the Informal You,” published in Uncanny Magazine. Samantha Mills took home the short story prize for “Rabbit Test,” also published in Uncanny.
Directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert were given the Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation for their Oscar-winning Everything Everywhere All at Once, and novelist George R.R. Martin and developer Hidetaka Miyazaki won the game writing prize for the video game Elden Ring.
The Nebulas were first awarded in 1965. Previous winners have included Martha Wells for Network Effect and William Gibson for Neuromancer.
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
