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Here are the winners of the 2026 Locus Awards

Some of the best writing from 2025

Here are the winners of the 2026 Locus Awards
Image: Andrew Liptak

Locus Magazine held its annual conference this weekend and announced this year's winners of its awards.

This year's crop of finalists was a good one, and something that I found interesting amongst the winners of the science fiction, fantasy, and horror novels is how each deals to some extent with the idea of narrative: Death of the Author is about an author contending with fame, The Everlasting is about someone creating a national narrative, and The Buffalo Hunter Hunter involves the discovery of a journal and the telling of its story.

Here‘s the full list (winners marked in bold):

Science fiction novels

  • The Folded Sky by Elizabeth Bear 
  • Picks & Shovels by Cory Doctorow 
  • Notes from a Regicide by Isaac Fellman 
  • When We Were Real by Daryl Gregory 
  • All That We See or Seem by Ken Liu 
  • Where the Axe Is Buried by Ray Nayler 
  • Slow Gods by Claire North 
  • Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor 
  • The Shattering Peace by John Scalzi 
  • Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky 
Review: Nnedi Okorafor’s Death of the Author
Death of the Author is a fantastic novel about remaining authentic in the face of the demands fame and success brings
Transfer OrbitAndrew Liptak

Fantasy novels

  • The Devils by Joe Abercrombie 
  • The Tomb of Dragons by Katherine Addison 
  • Lessons in Magic and Disaster by Charlie Jane Anders 
  • A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett 
  • The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow
  • The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson
  • Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher 
  • Katabasis by R.F. Kuang 
  • The Incandescent by Emily Tesh 
  • Queen Demon by Martha Wells 
Origin stories
Alix E. Harrow’s The Everlasting is a powerful book about a nation’s origin story and how such narratives can be manipulated
Transfer OrbitAndrew Liptak

Horror novels

  • The Possession of Alba Díaz by Isabel Cañas 
  • Spread Me by Sarah Gailey 
  • King Sorrow by Joe Hill 
  • The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones 
  • The Library at Hellebore by Cassandra Khaw
  • Never Flinch by Stephen King 
  • The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia 
  • It Was Her House First by Cherie Priest 
  • The Crimson Road by A.G. Slatter 
  • The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig 

Young Adult novels

  • The Singular Life of Aria Patel by Samira Ahmed 
  • Make Me a Monster by Kalynn Bayron 
  • Costumes for Time Travelers by A.R. Capetta 
  • The Executioners Three by Susan Dennard 
  • The Underwood Tapes by Amanda DeWitt 
  • Among Ghosts by Rachel Hartman 
  • Sky on Fire by E.K. Johnston 
  • Starstrike by Yoon Ha Lee 
  • I Am Not Jessica Chen by Ann Liang 
  • They Bloom at Night by Trang Thanh Tran

First novels

  • A Song of Legends Lost by M.H. Ayinde 
  • Red Rabbit Ghost by Jen Julian 
  • When Devils Sing by Xan Kaur 
  • Awake in the Floating City by Susanna Kwan
  • Luminous by Silvia Park 
  • Archive of Unknown Universes by Ruben Reyes Jr. 
  • North Sun, Or The Voyage of the Whaleship Esther by Ethan Rutherford 
  • Blob by Maggie Su 
  • Song of Spores by Bogi Takács 
  • Sour Cherry by Natalia Theodoridou 

Translated novel

  • On the Calculation of Volume III by Solvej Balle, translated by Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell 
  • The Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica, translated by Sarah Moses 
  • The Midnight Shift by Cheon Seon-Ran, translated by Gene Png 
  • Red Sword by Bora Chung, translated by Anton Hur 
  • The Midnight Timetable by Bora Chung, translated by Anton Hur 
  • Ice by Jacek Dukaj, translated by Ursula Phillips 
  • Blood for the Undying Throne by Sung-il Kim, translated by Anton Hur
  • Vanishing World by Sayaka Murata, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori 
  • Dengue Boy by Michel Nieva, translated by Rahul Bery 
  • The Wax Child by Olga Ravn, translated by Martin Aitken 

Novellas

  • The Orb of Cairado by Katherine Addison
  • The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar
  • What Stalks the Deep by T. Kingfisher 
  • Cinder House by Freya Marske 
  • Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz
  • Making History by K.J. Parker 
  • Psychopomp & Circumstance by Eden Royce 
  • Lives of Bitter Rain by Adrian Tchaikovsky 
  • A Mouthful of Dust by Nghi Vo 
  • Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite

Novelettes

Short Stories

Anthology

  • The Black Fantastic: 20 Afrofuturist Stories edited by andré m. carrington
  • Night & Day edited by Ellen Datlow 
  • Storyteller: A Tanith Lee Tribute Anthology edited by Julie C. Day, Carina Bissett and Craig Laurance Gidney
  • The End of the World As We Know It edited by Christopher Golden & Brian Keene
  • We Will Rise Again edited by Karen Lord, Annalee Newitz, and Malka Older 
  • Amplitudes: Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity edited by Lee Mandelo 
  • The Best Weird Fiction of the Year: Volume 1edited by Michael Kelly 
  • Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction: Volume Three edited by Stephen Kotowych 
  • The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2025 edited by Nnedi Okorafor and John Joseph Adams
  • As the Earth Dreams: Black Canadian Speculative Stories edited by Terese Mason Pierre

Collection

  • Call and Response by Christopher Caldwell 
  • Moon Songs by Carol Emshwiller 
  • Letters from an Imaginary Country by Theodora Goss 
  • Uncertain Sons and Other Stories by Thomas Ha 
  • Bright Dead Star by Caitlín R. Kiernan 
  • The Essential Patricia A. McKillip by Patricia A. McKillip 
  • One Message Remains by Premee Mohamed 
  • The Revelation Space Collection Volumes 1 & 2 by Alastair Reynolds 
  • Crows and Silences by Lucius Shepard 
  • A Catalog of Storms by Fran Wilde 

Magazine

  • Asimov’s
  • Beneath Ceaseless Skies
  • Clarkesworld
  • F&SF
  • Fiyah
  • khōréō
  • Lightspeed
  • Reactor
  • Strange Horizons
  • Uncanny Magazine

Publisher

  • Angry Robot
  • DAW
  • Del Rey
  • Gollancz
  • Neon Hemlock
  • Orbit
  • Pan Macmillan/Tor UK
  • Saga
  • Solaris
  • Tachyon

Tor Publishing Group & Subterranean Press have recused themselves from this category. Tor UK is an imprint of Pan Macmillan, not TPG.

Editor

  • John Joseph Adams
  • Scott H. Andrews
  • Neil Clarke
  • Ellen Datlow
  • dave ring
  • Jonathan Strahan
  • Bogi Takács
  • Wendy N. Wagner
  • Fran Wilde & Julian Yap
  • Sheila Williams

Artist

  • Brom
  • Rovina Cai
  • Galen Dara
  • Bob Eggleton
  • Kathleen Jennings
  • Alan Lee
  • John Picacio
  • Shaun Tan
  • Charles Vess
  • Michael Whelan

Illustrated and Art books

  • The Invisible Parade by Leigh Bardugo & John Picacio
  • Frank Frazetta: Fine Lines edited by Sara Frazetta and Arnie Fenner, art by Frank Frazetta
  • Starling House by Alix E. Harrow, art by Rovina Cai
  • Designing Terry Pratchett’s Discworld by Paul Kidby
  • Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, art by Rosemary Valero-O’Connell
  • The Space Cat by Nnedi Okorafor, art by Tana Ford
  • Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene Volumes 1-3 by adapted by Rebecca K. Reynolds, art by Justin Gerard
  • Sunset at Zero Point / Swedish Machines by Simon Stålenhag
  • Faraway Dreaming by Ulla Thynell
  • Icons of the Fantastic: Illustrations of Imaginative Literature from the Korshak Collection edited by Amanda T. Zehnder and David M. Brinley

Nonfiction 

  • The Outspoken and the Incendiary by Terry Bisson
  • Enshittification by Cory Doctorow
  • Colourfields by Paul Kincaid
  • Spring, Summer, Asteroid, Bird: The Art of Eastern Storytelling by Henry Lien
  • Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler by Susana M. Morris
  • Black Apocalypse: Afrofuturism at the End of the World by Tavia Nyong’o
  • Racebook: A Personal History of the Internetby Tochi Onyebuchi
  • Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Literatureedited by Becky Siegel Spratford
  • Space Ships! Ray Guns! Martian Octopods!: Interviews with Science Fiction Legendsedited by Richard Wolinsky
  • Octavia E. Butler: H is for Horse by Chi-ming Yang