Fonda Lee, Wab Kinew and Premee Mohamed among winners of 2022 Aurora Awards for science fiction and fantasy
Canadian American author Fonda Lee, Winnipeg author and politician Wab Kinew and Alberta author Premee Mohamed are among the winners of the 2022 Aurora Awards, which recognize the best Canadian science fiction and fantasy literature.
Portland-based Lee won the best novel award for her fantasy novel Jade Legacy, the third instalment in her Green Bone Saga series, which also includes Jade War and Jade City.
The novel is set in a magical world where clans of warriors called Green Bones battle over control of the source of their supernatural abilities: jade. A clan of Green Bones named the Kauls have to fight off their enemies in a deadly struggle to preserve their ancient ways.
Lee is a Canadian American science fiction and fantasy writer. She is a three-time Aurora Award winner, including best novel for Jade City and best YA novel for Exo. Jade City also won the World Fantasy Award in 2018.
Kinew's book Walking in Two Worlds won the best YA novel award. In the novel, a shy Indigenous teen girl named Bugz finds comfort and belonging through multiplayer video games and virtual worlds. When a teen boy named Feng moves to the rez where Bugz lives, the two discover they have a lot in common, both in real life and online. Their virtual adventures draw them closer — but events in the real world, including family challenges and community trauma, threaten to harm the friendship the two have built.
Kinew is the leader of Manitoba's New Democratic Party. Prior to his career in politics, he was a hip-hop musician and broadcaster and hosted Canada Reads in 2015.
Kinew is the also the author of The Reason You Walk, a memoir about mending his relationship with his father before his death; Go Show the World, a children's picture book about Indigenous heroes throughout history; and The Everlasting Road, the upcoming follow-up to Walking in Two Worlds.
Mohamed won the best novelette/novella award for her book The Annual Migration of Clouds.
The novella takes place long after climate disasters have wreaked havoc around the globe. The Annual Migration of Clouds is set on the abandoned University of Alberta campus, where a community of survivors cobbles together an existence as they cope with an incurable disease.
Mohamed is an Indo-Caribbean scientist and author of speculative fiction based in Edmonton. Her series Beneath the Rising received nominations for the Crawford Award, British Fantasy Awards, Locus Awards and Aurora Awards.
This year's Aurora Awards were given out in a livestreamed ceremony on Aug. 13, 2022. The awards are voted on by members of the Canadian Science Fiction & Fantasy Association.
The full list of winners is below:
- Best Novel: Jade Legacy by Fonda Lee
- Best YA Novel: Walking in Two Worlds by Wab Kinew
- Best Novelette/Novella: The Annual Migration of Clouds by Premee Mohamed
- Best Short Story: The Mathematics of Fairyland by Phoebe Barton
- Best Graphic Novel/Comic: It Never Rains by Kari Maaren
- Best Poem/Song: Cat People Café by Carolyn Clink
- Best Related Work: Alias Space and Other Stories by Kelly Robson
- Best Visual Presentation: Dune, directed by Denis Villeneuve
- Best Artist: Samantha M. Beiko
- Best Fan Writing and Publication: Polar Borealis, #17 to #20, edited by R. Graeme Cameron
- Best Fan Organizational: When Words Collide, Randy McCharles
- Best Fan-Related Work: Broadcasts from the Wasteland by Brandon Crilly and Evan May
