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2021 Hugo Award Finalists Announced

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Annika Barranti Klein

Staff Writer

Annika Barranti Klein likes books, obviously.   Twitter: @noirbettie

This morning Sheree Renee Thomas and Malka Older announced the nominees for this year’s Hugos, joined by Ulysses Campbell, the Treasurer of DC Advisory Neighborhood Commission 4C. The Hugo Awards have celebrated science fiction and fantasy since 1953. The 2021 Hugo Award Ceremony will take place at the 79th annual World Science Fiction Convention (WorldCon), DisCon III in Washington, D.C., in December. Here are the bookish highlights of the 2021 Hugo Award finalists:

2021 Hugo Award Finalists: The Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Novel

Cemetery Boys, Aiden Thomas (Swoon Reads)
A Deadly Education, Naomi Novik (Del Rey)
Elatsoe, Darcie Little Badger (Levine Querido)
Legendborn, Tracy Deonn (Margaret K. McElderry/ Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing)
Raybearer, Jordan Ifueko (Amulet / Hot Key)
A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, T. Kingfisher (Argyll Productions)

2021 Hugo Award Finalists: Best Graphic Story

DIE, Volume 2: Split the Party, written by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans, letters by Clayton Cowles (Image Comics)
Ghost-Spider vol. 1: Dog Days Are Over, Author: Seanan McGuire, Artist: Takeshi Miyazawa and Rosie Kämpe (Marvel)
Invisible Kingdom, vol 2: Edge of Everything, Author: G. Willow Wilson, Artist: Christian Ward (Dark Horse Comics)
Monstress, vol. 5: Warchild, Author: Marjorie Liu, Artist: Sana Takeda (Image Comics)
Once & Future vol. 1: The King Is Undead, written by Kieron Gillen, iIllustrated by Dan Mora, colored by Tamra Bonvillain, lettered by Ed Dukeshire (BOOM! Studios)
Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel Adaptation, written by Octavia Butler, adapted by Damian Duffy, illustrated by John Jennings (Harry N. Abrams)

2021 Hugo Award Finalists: Best Series

The Daevabad Trilogy, S.A. Chakraborty (Harper Voyager)
The Interdependency, John Scalzi (Tor Books)
The Lady Astronaut Universe, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor Books/Audible/Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction)
The Murderbot Diaries, Martha Wells (Tor.com)
October Daye, Seanan McGuire (DAW)
The Poppy War, R.F. Kuang (Harper Voyager)

2021 Hugo Award Finalists: Best Novella

Come Tumbling Down, Seanan McGuire (Tor.com)
The Empress of Salt and Fortune, Nghi Vo (Tor.com)
Finna, Nino Cipri (Tor.com)
Ring Shout, P. Djèlí Clark (Tor.com)
Riot Baby, Tochi Onyebuchi (Tor.com)
Upright Women Wanted, Sarah Gailey (Tor.com)

2021 Hugo Award Finalists: Best Novel

Black Sun, Rebecca Roanhorse (Gallery / Saga Press)
The City We Became, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)
Harrow the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir (Tor.com)
Network Effect, Martha Wells (Tor.com)
Piranesi, Susanna Clarke (Bloomsbury)
The Relentless Moon, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor Books)


Watch the entire announcement below.

Congratulations to all the Hugo Award finalists! To read about past awards, check out our Hugo Award archives.