Ursula K. Le Guin Prize

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The Ursula K. Le Guin Prize, established in 2022, is an annual, English-language literary award presented in honor of Ursula K. Le Guin. The $25,000 prize is awarded to an author for a single work of "imaginative fiction". The award is meant to honor authors who "can imagine real grounds for hope and see alternatives to how we live now". [1] [2]

Contents

Eligibility

Books may be nominated for the prize by anyone and will be judged based on how well the work "reflects the concepts and ideas that were central to Ursula's own work, including but not limited to: hope, equity, and freedom; non-violence and alternatives to conflict; and a holistic view of humanity's place in the natural world". [3]

To be eligible, a book must be a "book-length work of imaginative fiction written by a single author", "[p]ublished in the U.S. in English or in translation to English", and "[p]ublished in the specific window for each year's prize". [3] After a writer wins the award once, they cannot be nominated for the prize again. [3]

Additionally, the award "give[s] weight to writers whose access to resources may be limited due to race, gender, age, class or other factors; who are working outside of institutional frameworks like MFA programs; who live outside of cultural centers such as New York; and who have not yet been widely recognized for their work". [4]

Recipients

* Winner ·† Finalist ·  Shortlist

Ursula K. Le Guin Prize winners and finalists
YearAuthorTitleRef.
2022 Khadija Abdalla Bajaber *The House of Rust [5]
Sequoia Nagamatsu †How High We Go in the Dark [5]
Catherynne M. Valente † The Past Is Red [5]
Cynthia ZhangAfter the Dragons [6]
Matt Bell Appleseed [6]
Adrian Tchaikovsky Elder Race [6]
Olga Ravn , trans. by Martin Aitken The Employees [6]
Darcie Little Badger A Snake Falls to Earth [6]
Michelle Ruiz KeilSummer in the City of Roses [6]
2023Rebecca Campbell*Arboreality [7]
Christiane M. AndrewsWolfish [8]
Nicola Griffith Spear [8]
Yuri Herrera Ten Planets [8]
Simon Jimenez The Spear Cuts Through Water [8]
Zain Khalid Brother Alive [8]
Akil Kumarasamy Meet Us by the Roaring Sea [8]
R. B. Lemberg Geometries of Belonging [8]
Yvette Lisa NdlovuDrinking from Graveyard Wells [8]
2024Anne de Marcken*It Lasts Forever and Then It's Over [9]
Vajra Chandrasekera The Saint of Bright Doors [10]
Sarah CypherThe Skin and Its Girl [10]
Samantha Harvey Orbital [10]
Alissa HattmanSift [10]
Alaya Dawn Johnson The Library of Broken Worlds [10]
Micaiah JohnsonThose Beyond the Wall [10]
Premee Mohamed The Siege of Burning Grass [10]
Emily Tesh Some Desperate Glory [10]
Nghi Vo Mammoths at the Gates [10]
2025
Vajra Chandrasekera Rakesfall [11]
Andrea Hairston Archangels of Funk [11]
Nalo Hopkinson Blackheart Man [11]
Margaret Killjoy The Sapling Cage [11]
Jared PechačekThe West Passage [11]
Nghi Vo The City in Glass [11]
Ursula WhitcherNorth Continent Ribbon [11]
Eden RobinsRemember You Will Die [11]

References

  1. ↑ Flood, Allison (October 21, 2021). "Realists of a larger reality wanted: Ursula K Le Guin prize for fiction to launch in 2022". The Guardian .
  2. ↑ Schaub, Michael (October 21, 2021). "New Fiction Prize Named for Ursula K. Le Guin". Kirkus Reviews . Retrieved October 25, 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 "Ursula K. Le Guin—The Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction". The Ursula K. Le Guin Literary Trust. Retrieved October 25, 2022.
  4. ↑ "Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction to Launch Next Year". Shelf Awareness . October 21, 2021. Retrieved October 25, 2022.
  5. 1 2 3 Schaub, Michael (October 25, 2022). "Winner of the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize Is Revealed". Kirkus Reviews . Retrieved October 25, 2022.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Announcing the Shortlist for the Inaugural Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction". Electric Literature . July 28, 2022. Retrieved October 25, 2022.
  7. ↑ Armstrong, Vanessa (October 26, 2023). "Rebecca Campbell's Arboreality Wins the 2023 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction". Tor.com . Retrieved November 2, 2023.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Armstrong, Vanessa (July 12, 2023). "Announcing the Shortlist for The Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction!". Tor.com . Retrieved November 2, 2023.
  9. ↑ "The 2024 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction". October 21, 2024. Retrieved November 12, 2024.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Armstrong, Vanessa (July 16, 2024). "Here is the Shortlist for the 2024 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction!". Reactor. Retrieved July 17, 2024.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Here's the shortlist for the 2025 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction". Literary Hub . June 18, 2025. Retrieved June 24, 2025.
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