The African Speculative Fiction Society Announces 2021 Nommo Award Winners
The African Speculative Fiction Society has announced their 2021 Nommo Award Winners. The award is named after the Nommo, twin primal spirits in Dogon cosmology. The awards have four categories for best Novel, Novella, Short Story, and Graphic Novel. In 2021, the winner for best Novel (The Ilube Nommo Award for Best Speculative Fiction Novel by an African) was The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi, Best Novella went to Ife-Iyoku: The Tale of Imadeyunuagbon by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, Best Graphic Novel went to Moon Girls by Nana Akosua Hanson, and the Short Story winners were tied. Both “Rat and Finch are Friends” by Innocent Chizaram Ilo and “Behind Our Irises” by Tlotlo Tsamaase took home the prize. The winners were announced at WorldCon 2021 in Washington DC, USA, today, December 17, 2021. You can see the full list of nominees here.
Patrick Rothfuss Reads the Prologue to The Doors of Stone
Fantasy author Patrick Rothfuss promised his fans that he would read the prologue to his much-anticipated upcoming novel The Doors of Stone if they raised a certain amount of money for his WorldBuilder charity. When the fans came through, Rothfuss stayed true to his promise. When Rothfuss live streamed his reading, he got 10,000 concurrent live viewers. You can watch the author read The Doors of Stone prologue, “A Silence of Three Parts,” here. The novel does not have a release date yet.
Leigh Bardugo Announces “A Little Grishaverse Treat”
On Good Morning America earlier this week, Shadow and Bone author Leigh Bardugo announced “a little Grishaverse treat” coming in 2022. On Instagram, Bardugo wrote, “This morning I got to announce Demon in the Wood, a Darkling prequel and the first ever Grishaverse graphic novel on @goodmorningamerica. (thank you, GMA!) We’ve expanded the original short story and every page is brought to beautiful life by @dcpender’s stunning art. DitW takes place hundreds of years before the start of Shadow and Bone, before the Second Army, before General Kirigan, when the Darkling was just a young man gifted with an extraordinary power. Pre-order links in my stories Happy holidays, Grishaverse family 🖤✨🌙 More to come soon!” Demon in the Wood, written by Leigh Bardugo and illustrated by Dani Pendergast, hits shelves on September 27th, 2022.
Can the 1982 Island Trees Case Impact Today’s Censorship?
If you’re keeping up with today’s book censorship news, the Island Trees case is one Supreme Court case you should familiarize yourself with. Here’s information on that, and more book censorship news from the week.