Future World Prize for SFF writers of colour shortlist revealed

Eight writers have been shortlisted for this year's Future Worlds Prize for Fantasy and Science Fiction Writers of Colour.

The prize, previously named the Gollancz and Rivers of London BAME SFF Award, was first run in 2020 and founded by author Ben Aaronovitch. It aims to find new talent based in the UK writing in the SFF space, from magical realism and space operas to dystopia and more. The winner will receive a prize of £4,000, the runner-up £2,000 and up to six additional shortlisted authors will each receive £800.

All shortlisted writers, the runner-up and the winner will also receive mentoring from one of the prize’s publishing partners, which include HarperCollins SFF imprint HarperVoyager, Penguin Random House UK’s Del Rey UK, Hachette's Gollancz and Orbit, plus Pan Macmillan’s Tor.

This year's shortlist features A Shadow in Chains by M H Ayinde, The Sawling by Jordan Collins, Frankincense by Salma Ibrahim, In the City of Villages by Franchesca Liauw and Margot, Who Is Beautiful Now by Bea Pantoja. The Warden by Madeehah Reza also features on the shortlist alongside Contracts Made in Gold by Aqeelah Seedat and A Box Full of Stories by Fatima Taqv.

The shortlist was chosen by the prize’s publishing partners who read anonymised versions of the entries. Sarah Shaffi, project manager for the prize, said: “Our shortlist consists of eight brilliant new voices in the world of SFF. This is a prize looking for originality, for works that enrich the SFF genre and for potential, and our eight shortlisted writers and their work display all that and more. It is now over to our judges to decide on one winner. I don’t envy them!”

Aaronovitch said: “What has stunned me about the response to the Future World Prize is the number of entrants, their quality and their enthusiasm. Even so I believe that we have only sampled the ocean of talent out there and I hope we can build upon this promising beginning to get even more brilliant writing in front of even more readers."

Actor Adjoa Andoh, who judged the prize in its first year and is providing financial support in its second year, added: “I came on board to support Future Worlds Prize, the brainchild of novelist Ben Aaronovitch, because I, like Ben, want to see more storytellers of colour exploring the possibilities that the speculative and science fiction form offers to reimagine the world and embrace new readerships. I am delighted therefore in the second year of the award that so many writers of colour have stepped up. Long may we grow and flourish as writers and readers. Keep those stories coming."

The 2020 prize was won by Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson for The Principle of Moments, a space-based adventure story. Jikiemi-Pearson has since secured a publishing deal with Gollancz and her debut novel will be released in 2022.