Emily St. John Mandel’s post-apocalyptic novel Station Eleven was already a finalist for the National Book Awards, but now it’s won one of genre’s most coveted awards, the Arthur C. Clarke Award. (And we’re reading it as June’s io9 Book Club book!)
According to the Guardian, Clarke jury chair Andrew M. Butler explained the choice: “While many post-apocalypse novels focus on the survival of humanity, Station Eleven focuses instead on the survival of our culture, with the novel becoming an elegy for the hyper-globalised present.” George R.R. Martin had previously named it as his top pick for the Hugo Awards this year.
And the director of the Clarke Award, Tom Hunter, also addressed a hot-button topic, saying to the Guardian: “Diversity in genre is the big topic right now. For us diversity means starting with as broad a range of voices and books as possible so we can pick a shortlist that we think really is the best science fiction literature of the year.”
More details at the link. [The Guardian]
Contact the author at charliejane@io9.com.