Announcing the shortlist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award, 2026
We’re delighted to reveal the shortlist for the 40th Arthur C. Clarke Award for science fiction book of the year.
The six shortlisted books are:
Dungeon Crawler Carl — Matt Dinniman (Michael Joseph)
The Dream Hotel — Laila Lalami (Bloomsbury Circus)
Luminous — Silvia Park (Magpie)
There Is No Antimemetics Division — qntm (Del Rey)
When There Are Wolves Again — E.J. Swift (Arcadia)
The Salt Oracle — Lorraine Wilson (Solaris)
Our Chair of Judges, Dr Andrew M. Butler, said:
“For four decades, our Clarke judges have whittled hundreds of books down to shortlists and then to the books they feel is the best sf novel published in Britain. This is never easy. The current judges debated over 130 volumes and picked the six they liked best. There’s a strong thread of memory running through the shortlist — and I think this might be a memorable year.”
Award Director Tom Hunter added:
“Sir Arthur was always passionate that the award’s definition of science fiction be as diverse and open as possible, and I believe he would have both applauded the record levels of new SF being published today and the formidable challenge this created for our judging panel.
“Following Sir Arthur’s passing, the award faced the real possibility of being forced to close after its 25th year. I am delighted that we have been able to steward the award successfully all the way to its 40th anniversary, and am happy to report the directors are already making plans for celebrating in 2036.”
This year’s winner will be announced on Wednesday 12th August 2026.
The winner will receive a trophy in the form of a commemorative engraved bookend and prize money to the value of £2026.00; a tradition that sees the annual prize money rise incrementally by year from the year 2001 in memory of Sir Arthur C. Clarke.
The judging panel for the Arthur C. Clarke Award 2026 are:
Eliza Claudia Filimon and Antony Jones for the British Science Fiction Association.
Tiffani Angus and John Coxon for the Science Fiction Foundation.
Esther MacCallum-Stewart for the SCI-FI-LONDON film festival.
Dr Andrew M. Butler represented the Arthur C. Clarke Award directors in a non-voting role as the Chair of the Judges.
The annual award is presented for the best science fiction novel of the year, and selected from a list of novels whose UK first edition was published in the previous calendar year.
The award was originally established by a generous grant from Sir Arthur C. Clarke with the aim of promoting science fiction in the United Kingdom, and is currently administered by the Serendip Foundation, a voluntary organisation created to oversee the on-going delivery and development of the award.
