Clarke Awards release list of 33 female authors submitted for prize

For those unfamiliar, The Clarke Award is given to the best science fiction novel of the year, pulled from a shortlist of novels whose UK first editions came out in the previous calendar year. It was originally established by a generous grant from Sir Arthur C. Clarke in 1987, and is now overseen by the Serendip Foundation.

Last year there was a ton of controversy over the fact that all six (of the eighty-two) authors shortlisted for the award were male, despite there being some truly fantastic releases by female authors in 2012. Although I don’t remember (or want to drag up) the whole debate, I do remember Liz Williams doing a pretty good job of justifying why this might be in The Guardian.

Whatever the reason, it was good to see that the award’s Director has this week decided to take preemptive action for 2014’s award and openly display – to the public – the list of all 33 female authors that they’ve received from publishing houses to be considered. I believe The Clarke Award receives around 80 titles in total, so this isn’t too far off half (a very good thing). Below I’ve pasted the comments from the award’s director and also the shortlist – I’d be interested to hear from you guys which books you guys consider to be the most likely to make the shortlist (if any, of course!).

Here is what Tom Hunter had to say:

Every year before we announce our shortlist, the Arthur C. Clarke Award now traditionally releases the full list of novels put forward for consideration.

We’ve always intended this as a great way to showcase the full breadth of titles in contention and, crucially, to allow science fiction readers everywhere the chance to have a little fun creating their own nominations, trying to second guess the final shortlist and gaining a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by the judging panel every year.

This year we’ve chosen to do this in two parts, first releasing this list of the thirty-three female authors submitted for the prize, which we hope will be a positive contribution towards further raising the profile of women writers of science fiction in the UK and beyond.

We’ll be releasing details of the full submissions list shortly, and will be encouraging readers everywhere to review and comment on the data in as many creative ways as possible.

Tom Hunter, Award Director

SUBMISSIONS TO THE ARTHUR C. CLARKE AWARD 2014: PART ONE
iD by Madeline Ashby (Angry Robot)

MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood (Bloomsbury)

Fortune’s Pawn by Rachel Bach (Orbit)

The Beauty of Murder by A.K. Benedict (Orion)

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes (HarperCollins)

What Lot’s Wife Saw by Ioanna Bourazopoulou (Black & White Publishing)

The Bone Dragon by Alexia Casale (Faber & Faber)

The Mad Scientist’s Daughter by Cassandra Rose Clarke (Angry Robot)

Fearsome Dreamer by Laure Eve (Hot Key Books)

Queen of Nowhere by Jaine Fenn (Gollancz)

Seoul Survivors by Naomi Foyle (Jo Fletcher Books)

The Falling Sky by Pippa Goldschmidt (Freight)

Parasite by Mira Grant (Orbit)

2121 by Susan Greenfield (Head of Zeus)

Stray by Monica Hesse (Hot Key Books)

Valour’s Choice by Tanya Huff (Titan)

God’s War by Kameron Hurley (Del Rey)

Alias Hook by Lisa Jensen (Snowbooks)

Autodrome by Kim Lakin-Smith (Snowbooks)

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (Orbit)

The Best of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord (Jo Fletcher Books)

The Night Itself by Zoe Marriott (Walker Books)

The Fall by Claire Merle (Faber & Faber)

The Eidolon by Libby McGugan (Solaris)

Hidden Among Us by Katie Moran (Walker Books)

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki (Canongate)

Fiddlehead by Cherie Priest (Tor)

Abyss by Tricia Rayburn (Faber & Faber)

Cooking with Bones by Jess Richards (Sceptre)

Gemsigns by Stephanie Saulter (Jo Fletcher Books)

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon (Bloomsbury)

Osiris by E.J. Swift (Del Rey)

Ecko Burning by Danie Ware (Titan)

The shortlist for this year’s Arthur C. Clarke Award will be announced on Tuesday 18 March, followed by the main award ceremony on Thursday 1 May at the Royal Society, London.

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