Books Read

Afrosf: Science Fiction by African Writers edited by Ivor W. Hartmann

The Sea is Our: Tales from Steampunk Southeast Asia edited by Jamyee Goh and Joyce Chng

Currently Reading

Luna: New Moon by Ian McDonald

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What are award shortlists for?

Obviously their main purpose is to SELL A SHITLOAD MORE BOOKS FOR HUNGRY PUBLISHERS!!! recognize and celebrate the best works published in a specific timeframe and a given context.  That celebratory aspect, in particular, is reflected in my Facebook and Twitter feeds moments after a shortlist is announced as friends, rightly, congratulate the nominees.

But once people have provided virtual pats on the back to the finalists, once the glow of platitude and praise has dimmed, what purpose does an award shortlist serve?  Is it there to be read?  Is it there to spark conversation?  Is it there to further the debate – what there is of it – about the genre?

I ask because this week the Kitschies, one of my favorite awards, announced its list of nominees.  When I reported this on my blog earlier in the week I applauded the diversity on the list – both in terms of gender and race – and the fact that there was a distinct lack of multi-series books present (a particular peccadillo of mine).  I also made the throwaway remark that given the winners are announced on March 7 I wouldn’t have the time to read the nominees.  However, a comment on my Facebook feed about the short timeframe – from nomination to award (which occurred last year as well) – again prompted the question: What are award shortlists for?  Because if they are there to spark discussion about the work or speculate on who might win or discuss how the nominees reflect the state of genre / literature at a specific point of time – two weeks isn’t enough time to explore these thoughts.

Now, to be fair, the Kitschies is an outlier.  Most other genre and literary awards provide – at least – a two month gap before a winner is announced.  And in the case of the Man Booker or the National Book Award, a longlist is featured before the shortlist is arrived at, which is still followed by a 6 or 8 week period before a winner is awarded.  So the vast majority of awards do provide readers and critics time to digest the nominees and commentate.

But is this what award shortlists are for?  Are they there to start a discussion or are they just a reason to backslap a mate or favorite author that’s been nominated?

The thing is, unless there’s controversy, awards list generate very little commentary.  In fact, if there’s one positive that’s come out of the Sad / Rabid Puppy shenanigans it’s that it has compelled people to take notice of the nominees – to either defend or criticise the choices.  And while much of the discussion is the incoherent rants of the politically biased, at least there’s some sort of dialogue about the field.  It’s rare that we get the monumental and brilliant rants of people like Christopher Priest when he fired both barrels at the Clarke Award judges in 2012.  Or the more considered, but always entertaining reviews / critiques of the same awards by Adam Roberts.

And maybe those who coordinate the Kitschies have figured this out.  Why wait two months to award the winners when no-one is going to pay much attention after the back slapping and the congratulations have faded from people’s Facebook’s feed.  It might as well be two weeks of tumbleweeds than two months.

So what are award shortlists for?

I want them to be a dialogue between readers and critics and fans about the state of the genre.  I want that discussion to be vibrant and angry and ranty and funny and most of all an engagement with the texts that have been nominated.  I want award shortlists to be more than just monuments, a historical marker that might be noted and discussed 50 years from now as an example of the genre at a point in time, but a living, breathing expression of some fucking awesome books… or not, as the case may be.

But maybe I’m kidding myself.  Maybe awards shortlists are really only meant to be about the platitudes and praise.  And maybe if there was less of them – not an award for every sub genre and sub sub genre – people would have the time and inclination to actually discuss the nominees.  (And don’t forget the marketers and publishers…)

I truly don’t have an answer, but your thoughts would be appreciated.

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I’ll be discussing the two anthologies I read this week – Afro Sf and The Sea is Ours – on the next exciting instalment of The Writer and the Critic podcast.  That episode will be recorded in the second week of March.  In the meantime you can support the podcast on our newly minted Patreon page.