Shortlist announced for Arthur C. Clarke Award 2017

86 books and 7 million words later (I should know, I'm one of the judges) today say the announcement of the shortlist for the 31st Arthur C. Clarke Award for science fiction literature.

    •    A Closed and Common Orbit, Becky Chambers (Hodder & Stoughton)
    •    Ninefox Gambit, Yoon Ha Lee (Solaris)
    •    After Atlas, Emma Newman (Roc)
    •    Occupy Me, Tricia Sullivan (Gollancz)
    •    Central Station, Lavie Tidhar (PS Publishing)
    •    The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead  (Fleet)
 
The 6 shortlisted titles were selected from a list of 86 individual eligible submissions.
 
Chair of the Judges, Dr Andrew M. Butler praised the judges and the shortlist, but declined to guess at the eventual winner. "Every year our industrious judges sift through scores of novels to pick six to represent the state of the sf field. They've chosen a first timer and a previous winner, as well as writers in the process of building great reputations. Any of these could win – at this point I cannot begin to guess."
 
Award Director Tom Hunter added: “The novels on our shortlist this year are fascinatingly diverse, deeply imaginative and a great tribute to the memory of Sir Arthur as we celebrate the centenary year of his birth in 2017.”
 
The judging panel for the Arthur C. Clarke Award 2017 are:
    •    Una McCormack, British Science Fiction Association
    •    Shana Worthen, British Science Fiction Association
    •    Paul March-Russell, Science Fiction Foundation
    •    Andrew McKie, Science Fiction Foundation
    •    Charles Christian, SCI-FI-LONDON film festival
 
Andrew M. Butler represents the Arthur C. Clarke Award in a non-voting role as the Chair of the Judges. 
 
The winner will be announced at a public award ceremony held in partnership with Foyles Bookshop, Charing Cross Road, on Thursday 27th July 2017. The winner will be presented with a cheque for £2017.00 and the award itself, a commemorative engraved bookend. 
 
    •    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 Britain, and is currently administered by the Serendip Foundation, a voluntary organisation created to oversee the on-going running and development of the award.
    •    Members of the judging panel are nominated by supporting organisations, currently the British Science Fiction Association, the Science Fiction Foundation and the SCI-FI-LONDON film festival.