Here are the winners of the 2026 World Fantasy Award

Over the weekend, the World Fantasy Convention held its annual (52nd) event Oakland, California, a four-day celebration of all things fantasy. As part of the programming, the convention announced the winners of the World Fantasy Award.

Here's the full list of winners (I've marked them in bold) and nominees:

Best Novel

• Audition for the Fox by Martin Cahill
• Once Was Willem by M.R. Carey
• The Secret Market of the Dead by Giovanni De Feo
• The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow
• The Adventures of Mary Darling by Pat Murphy

Best Long Fiction

• The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar
• “The Secret Diary of Mina Harker" by Theodora Goss (Letters from an Imaginary Country)
• “Uncertain Sons” by Thomas Ha (Uncertain Sons and Other Stories)
• The Death of Mountains by Jordan Kurella
• “The Spotter” by Josh Malerman (You, Human: An Anthology of Dark Science Fiction, Vol. 2)
• Psychopomp & Circumstance by Eden Royce
• A Mouthful of Dust by Nghi Vo

Best Short Fiction

• “The Hungry Mouth at the Edge of Space and the Goddess Knitting at Home” by Renan Bernardo (Reactor 8/27/25)
• “In My Country” by Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld 4/25)
• “10 Visions of the Future; or, Self-Care for the End of Days” by Samantha Mills (Uncanny 3-4/25)
• “St. Dymphna’s School for Borderland Girls” by Jocelyn Szczepaniak-Gillece (Weird Horror Spring ‘25)
• “Unfinished Architectures of the Human-Fae War" by Caroline M. Yoachim (Uncanny 5-6/25)

Best Anthology

• Night & Day edited by Ellen Datlow
• Storyteller: A Tanith Lee Tribute Anthology edited by Julie C. Day, Carina Bissett and Craig Laurance Gidney
• The Best Weird Fiction of the Year: Volume 1, edited by Michael Kelly
• Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy & Science Fiction: Volume Three edited by Stephen Kotowych
• Bog People: A Working-Class Anthology of Folk Horror edited by Hollie Starling

Best Collection

• Letters from an Imaginary Country by Theodora Goss
• Uncertain Sons and Other Stories by Thomas Ha
• The Essential Patricia A. McKillip by Patricia A. McKillip
• The Eleventh Hour: A Quintet of Stories by Salman Rushdie
• Black Hole Heart and Other Stories by K.A. Teryna and translated by Alex Shvartsman

Best Artist

• Galen Dara
• Kathleen Jennings
• Daniele Serra
• Rachel Smythe
• Charles Vess

Special Award – Professional

• Clive Bloom, for London Uncanny: A Gothic Guide to the Capital in Weird History and Fiction 
• Jaymee Goh, Jill Roberts & Jacob Weisman, for Tachyon Publications
• Tim Lucas, for Succubus 
• Blumhouse & Dave Schilling, for Horror’s New Wave: 15 Years of Blumhouse 
• Becky Siegel Spratford, for Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Literature 
• Richard Wolinsky, for Space Ships! Ray Guns! Martian Octopods!: Interviews with Science Fiction Legends

Special Award – Non-Professional

• Scott H. Andrews, for Beneath Ceaseless Skies
• Andy Cox, for Remains
• Patrick Swenson, for Fairwood Press and for the Rainforest Writers Village Retreat
• Elise C. Tobler, for The Deadlands
• Wendy Wagner, for Nightmare

Congratulations to all of the winners – what did you read on the list?