2025 Ignyte Nominees

[psocoptera]

Here, or behind the cut.


OUTSTANDING NOVEL: ADULT
for novel-length work (40k words) Works intended for an adult audience

BLACKHEART MAN – Nalo Hopkinson (S&S/Saga Press)
METAL FROM HEAVEN – August Clarke (Erewhon Books)
THE EMPEROR AND THE ENDLESS PALACE – Justinian Huang (Mira)
THE SENTENCE – Gautam Bhatia (Westland IF)
WOMB CITY – Tlotlo Tsamaase (Erewhon Books)

OUTSTANDING NOVEL: YOUNG ADULT
for novel-length (40k+ words) works intended for the young adult audience

HEIR – Sabaa Tahir (G.P. Putnam’s Sons BYR)
MOONSTORM – Yoon Ha Lee (Delacorte Press)
SHEINE LENDE – Darcie Little Badger (Levine Querido)
SPELLS TO FORGET US – Aislinn Brophy (G.P. Putnam’s Sons BYR)
THE POISONS WE DRINK – Bethany Baptiste (Sourcebooks Fire)

OUTSTANDING MIDDLE GRADE
for works intended for the middle grade audience

AMARI AND THE DESPICABLE WONDERS – B. B. Alston (Storytide)
BENNY RAMÍREZ AND THE NEARLY DEPARTED – Jose Pable Iriarte (Knopf BYR)
SONA AND THE GOLDEN BEASTS – Rajani Larocca (Quill Tree Books)
THE CREEPENING OF DOGWOOD HOUSE – Eden Royce (Walden Pond Press)
THE LAST RHEE WITCH – Jenna Lee-Yun (Disney Hyperion)

OUTSTANDING NOVELLA
for speculative works ranging from 17,500-39,999 words

FRACTAL KARMA – Arula Ratnakar (Clarkesworld)
LOST ARK DREAMING – Suyi Okungbowa Davies (Tordotcom)
THE BUTCHER OF THE FOREST – Premee Mohamed (Tordotcom)
THE DRAGONFLY GAMBIT – A. D. Sui (Neon Hemlock)
THE PRACTICE, THE HORIZON, AND THE CHAIN – Sofia Samatar (Tordotcom)

OUTSTANDING NOVELETTE
for speculative works ranging from 7,500-17,499 words

A STRANGER KNOCKS – Tananarive Due (Uncanny Magazine)
JOANNA’S BODIES – Eugenia Triantafyllou (Psychopomp)
NEGATIVE SCHOLARSHIP ON THE FIFTH STATE OF BEING – A.W. Prihandita (Clarkesworld)
¡SANGRONAS! UN LISTA DE TERROR – M.M. Olivas (Uncanny Magazine)
WE WHO WILL NOT DIE – Shingai Njeri Kagunda (Psychopomp)

OUTSTANDING SHORT STORY
for speculative works ranging from 2,000-7,499 words

AGNI – Nibedita Sen (The Sunday Morning Transport)
PARTHENOGENESIS – Stephen Graham Jones (Reactor)
THE SPINDLE OF NECESSITY – B. Pladek (Strange Horizons)
WE WILL TEACH YOU HOW TO READ | WE WILL TEACH YOU HOW TO READ – Caroline M. Yoachim (Lightspeed Magazine)
WHALE FALL – J.L. Akagi (Strange Horizons)

OUTSTANDING SPECULATIVE POETRY

AFTER THEY BLASTED YOUR HOME PLANET TO SHRAPNEL – P.H. Low (Haven Speculative)
HIJACKED INTERIORS – Leena Aboutaleb (Strange Horizons)
I SAID | मैंने कहा – Sourav Roy, translated by Carol D’Souza (Samovar)
RELIVING: POST TRAUMA OF THE LEKKI TOLLGATE MASSACRE – Fasasi Ridwan (Strange Horizons)
THE PERSON WHO REMINDS THE OTHER PERSON TO CAST THE SPELL – Bogi Takács (Strange Horizons)

CRITICS AWARD
for reviews and analysis of the field of speculative literature

Ancillary Review of Books
Archita Mittra
BlackGayComicGeek
Gabino Iglesias
Maya Gittelman

OUTSTANDING FICTION PODCAST
for excellence in audio performance and production for speculative fiction

Cast of Wonders
Khōréō Magazine
Podcastle
Pseudopod
The Nosleep Podcast

OUTSTANDING ARTIST
for contributions in visual speculative storytelling

Alyssa Winans
Carly A-F
Micaela Alcaino
Tran Nguyen

OUTSTANDING COMICS TEAM
for comics, graphic novels, and sequential storytelling

LUNAR BOY – Jes and Cin Wibowo (Harper Alley)
LUNAR NEW YEAR LOVE STORY – Gene Luen Yang and Leuyen Pham (First Second)
THE WORST RONIN – Maggie Tokuda-Hall and Faith Schaffer (Harper Alley)

OUTSTANDING ANTHOLOGY/COLLECTED WORKS

A SUNNY PLACE FOR SHADY PEOPLE – Mariana Enriquez, translated by Megan McDowell (Hogarth)
DEEP DREAM: SCIENCE FICTION EXPLORING THE FUTURE OF ART – Indrapramit Das (The MIT Press)
THE BLACK GIRL SURVIVES IN THIS ONE – Desiree S. Evans and Saraciea J. Fennell (Flatiron Books)
THROUGH THE NIGHT LIKE A SNAKE: LATIN AMERICAN HORROR STORIES – Sarah Coolidge (Two Lines Press)
THYME TRAVELLERS: AN ANTHOLOGY OF PALESTINIAN SPECULATIVE FICTION – Sonia Sulaiman (Roseway Publishing)

OUTSTANDING CREATIVE NONFICTION
for works related to the field of speculative fiction

AFRO-CENTERED FUTURISMS IN OUR SPECULATIVE FICTION – Eugen Bacon, ed. Featuring works by Aline-Mwezi Niyonsenga, Cheryl S. Ntumy, Dilman Dila, Nerine Dorman, Nuzo Onoh, Shingai Njeri Kagunda, Stephen Embleton, Tobi Ogundiran and Xan van Rooyen (Bloomsbury Academic)
ALL INSURRECTIONS ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL: ON WRITING RESISTANCE AFTER JANUARY 6TH – Micaiah Johnson (Reactor)
FLAMBOYANTS: THE QUEER HARLEM RENAISSANCE I WISH I’D KNOWN – George M. Johnson, Charley Palmer (FSG BYR)
IN OTHER WOR(L)DS – Shrinidhi Harasimhan (Strange Horizons)
WHY A.I. ISN’T GOING TO MAKE ART – Ted Chiang (The New Yorker)

THE EMBER AWARD
for unsung contributions to genre

Charlie Jane Anders
Indrapramit Das
Nisi Shawl
Renay
Sonia Sulaiman

THE COMMUNITY AWARD
for Outstanding Efforts in Service of Inclusion and Equitable Practice in Genre

WOLE TALABI
AUTHORS AGAINST BOOK BANS
SAMOVAR MAGAZINE
WRITING THE OTHER: WORKSHOPS

Voting for the 2025 awards opens June 9th – August 15th, 2025 at 11:59PM EDT.

Comments

[glynhogen]

I've read five of these and should read more. I really appreciate the energy of the Ignytes.