We are absolutely thrilled to announce that Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson has won The Gollancz and Rivers of London BAME SFF Award! We are beyond proud of you Esmie for winning this prestigious prize with your impactful, time travelling epic, featuring brilliant Black teenagers saving the galaxy: The Principle of Moments.
Read more about the prize here:
Gollancz, the UK’s oldest science fiction and fantasy imprint, and Ben Aaronovitch, author of the bestselling RIVERS OF LONDON series, are teaming up with some of the foremost voices in the industry – including NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH and THE GOOD LITERARY AGENCY – to launch a new writing prize that aims to champions underrepresented voices in the genres of science fiction, fantasy and horror.
The award responds to stark new statistics illustrating the worrying lack of diversity in science fiction and fantasy publishing with Nielsen Bookscan figures for the genre showing that of the 4,589 books published in this category in 2018, only five authors featured were British writers of colour.
THE GOLLANCZ & RIVERS OF LONDON BAME SFF AWARD gave Black, Asian and minority ethnic writers the opportunity to submit a short sample of writing within the genres of science fiction, fantasy or horror. Those writers were then in with the chance to win a selection of mentoring and monetary prizes of values of up to £4,000, so as to support their future writing careers.
The award ran over several months offering writing advice and insights aimed at demystifying the publishing process across a long open submissions period.