Carl Brandon Awards Given at Arisia 2011

From left to right: Cecilia Tan, Vandana Singh, Andrea Hairston, Tananarive Due. Photo by Sitara Chapman.

The Carl Brandon Society awards for 2008 and 2009 were given this past weekend at Arisia 2011:

2008:

  • Vandana Singh’s novel Distances won the Carl Brandon Parallax Award.
  • Tananarive Due’s short story “Ghost Summer” won the Carl Brandon Kindred Award.

2009:

  • Hiromi Goto’s novel Half World won the Carl Brandon Parallax Award.
  • Justine Larbalestier’s novel Liar won the Carl Brandon Kindred Award.

The Carl Brandon Society Parallax Award recognizes an outstanding work of speculative fiction by a writer of color. The Carl Brandon Society Kindred Award recognizes an outstanding work of speculative fiction dealing with race/ethnicity. Each award includes a US$1000 prize. Previous winners include Walter Mosley, Susan Vaught, Andrea Hairston, Nnedi Okorafor, and Minister Faust. A complete list of Parallax and Kindred Award winners’ works is available at http://carlbrandon.org/awards.

Tananarive Due and Vandana Singh received their awards in person at the ceremony. Andrea Hairston accepted the award for Hiromi Goto and Cecilia Tan accepted the award for Justine Larbalestier.

Nominations for 2010 awards are open through February 28, 2011. Visit the awards page at carlbrandon.org for more information. You can also donate to support the awards at carlbrandon.org.

Carl Brandon Society Arisia Schedule

Attending Arisia in Boston this weekend? Be sure to check out the Carl Brandon Society programming:

Carl Brandon Society Party
Saturday, 8:30pm to midnight, Room 211
Enter for a chance to win the Carl Brandon Award winning books.

Carl Brandon Awards Ceremony and Reception
Sunday, 1:00pm, Presidents A
Andrea Hairston and Nnedi Okorafor will receive their Carl Brandon Awards and read from their winning works.

Nnedi Okorafor’s panels:
Saturday, 3:00pm Diversity is Coming!
Sunday, 11:00am Faeries of Color: Tales of the Fae beyond Northern Europe

Andrea Hairston’s panels:
Saturday, 11:00am The Changing Face of Fiction: Literature, Diversity, and Backlash
Saturday, 4:00am Interstitial Fiction: Dancing between the Genres

check at the convention for rooms and for up-to-date schedule information

Eileen Gunn interviews Nisi Shawl, first black winner of the James R. Tiptree Jr. award

I’ve been talking a little bit about this with Ted Chiang and some other people in a book discussion group I’m in, Tom Foster and Evan Cherniavsky. In light of that old “death of the author” idea. Is a story something I create to communicate ideas, or something I participate in with my readers? I’m always thrilled when someone gets out of a story what I was trying to put into it. And I’m also often thrilled when someone gets out of a story a totally other thing I didn’t even know was up in there.