BTW News Briefs

Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly version

George by Alex Gino Receives NAIBA’s Carla Cohen Free Speech Award

The New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association (NAIBA) has awarded this year’s Carla Cohen Free Speech Award to George by Alex Gino (Scholastic). NAIBA’s citation said, “George is a candid, genuine, and heartwarming middle grade title about a transgender girl who is, to use Charlotte’s word, R-A-D-I-A-N-T!”

Gino, who will be honored at the NAIBA 2016 Fall Conference Awards Banquet, expressed appreciation for the award, saying, “I deeply believe that exposure to literature that reflects our diverse world is our best chance for raising children into adults who know how to respect, love, and care for one another.”

Information and registration for the NAIBA Fall Conference, to be held October 15–17 at the Hyatt Regency in Baltimore, Maryland, is available on NAIBA’s website.

2016 Hugo Award and John W. Campbell Award Winners Announced

The winners of the 2016 Hugo Awards, honoring the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, and the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer were announced at MidAmeriCon II, the 74th annual Worldcon, held Saturday, August 20, in Kansas City, Missouri.

The 2016 Hugo Award winners include:

  • Best Novel: The Fifth Season, by N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)
  • Best Novella: Binti, by Nnedi Okorafor (Tor.com)
  • Best Short Story: “Cat Pictures Please,” by Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld, January 2015)
  • Best Graphic Story: The Sandman: Overture, written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by J.H. Williams III (Vertigo)

Andy Weir, author of the 2014 sci-fi novel The Martian (Crown), was named the winner of the John W. Campbell Award, which this year honors the best new professional science fiction or fantasy writer of 2014 or 2015. The award is sponsored by Dell Magazines.

To see all winners of the 2016 Hugo Awards, visit the MidAmeriCon II website.

Marilynne Robinson Wins 2016 Holbrooke Award

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Marilynne Robinson, best known for her novels Homecoming and Gilead, will receive the 2016 Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award at the Dayton Literary Peace Prize Gala in Dayton, Ohio, on November 20.

The award, which prior to 2011 was called the Dayton Literary Peace Prize Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizes authors who, through their complete body of work, foster peace, social justice, and global understanding. The award was named in honor of the U.S. diplomat who helped negotiate the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords that ended the war in Bosnia. Past winners have included Studs Terkel, Elie Wiesel, Barbara Kingsolver, and Tim O’Brien.

The Dayton Literary Peace Prize finalists in the categories of fiction and nonfiction will be announced on September 13.