Lavie Tidhar's 'Osama' wins World Fantasy Award for Best Novel

The winners of this year’s slate of World Fantasy Awards were announced Sunday during the final day of the World Fantasy Convention in Toronto, Canada.

For those of you unfamiliar with the World Fantasy Awards, they are given annually for outstanding achievement in the field of fantasy. Along with the Hugo Awards and Nebula Awards, the World Fantasy Awards are generally considered among the most prestigious awards in the fantasy and science fiction genres.

This year, awards were presented in nine categories – Lifetime Achievement, Best Novel, Best Novella, Best Short Story, Best Anthology, Best Collection, Best Artist, Special Award – Professional and Special Award – Non-Professional.

This year’s slate of winners and nominees in each category included:

Best Novel:
Winner – “Osama” by Lavie Tidhar
- “Those Across the River” by Christopher Buehlman
- “11/22/63” by Stephen King
- “A Dance with Dragons” by George R.R. Martin
- “Among Others” by Jo Walton

Best Anthology:
Winner – “The Weird,” edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer
- “Blood and Other Cravings,” edited by Ellen Datlow
- “A Book of Horrors,” edited by Stephen Jones
- “The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities,” edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer
- “Gutshot,” edited by Conrad Williams

Best Collection:
Winner – “The Bible Repairman and Other Stories” by Tim Powers
- “Bluegrass Symphony” by Lisa L. Hannett
- “Two Worlds and In Between” by Caitlin R. Kieman
- “After the Apocalypse” by Maureen F. McHugh
- “Mrs. Midnight and Other Stories” by Reggie Oliver

Best Novella:
Winner – “A Small Price to Pay for Birdsong” by K.J. Parker
- “Near Zennor” by Elizabeth Hand
- “Alice Through the Plastic Sheet” by Robert Shearman
- “Rose Street Attractors” by Lucius Shepard
- “Silently and Very Fast” by Catherynne M. Valente

Best Short Story:
Winner – “The Paper Menagerie” by Ken Liu
- “X for Demetrious” by Steve Duffy
- “Younger Women” by Karen Joy Fowler
- “A Journey of Only Two Paces” by Tim Powers
- “The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees” by E. Lily Yu

Best Artist:
Winner – John Coulthart
- Julie Dillon
- Jon Foster
- Kathleen Jennings
- John Picacio

Special Award, Professional:
Winner – Eric Lane (for publishing in translation with Dedalus Books)
- John Joseph (for anthology and magazine editing)
- Jo Fletcher (for editing at Jo Fletcher Books)
- Brett Alexander Savory and Sandra Kasturi (for ChiZine Publications)
- Jeff VanderMeer & S.J. Chambers (for “The Steampunk Bible”)

Special Award, Non-Professional:
Winner – Raymond Russell and Rosalie Parker (for Tartarus Press)
- Kate Baker, Neil Clarke, Cheryl Morgan and Sean Wallace (for Clarkesworld)
- CatRambo (for Fantasy)
- Charles Tan (for Bibliophile Stalker blog)
- Mark Valentine (for Wormwood)

The Lifetime Achievement Awards are “presented annually to individuals who have demonstrated outstanding service to the fantasy field.” This year’s lifetime achievement awards went to Alan Garner and George R.R. Martin.

For more information about the World Fantasy Awards and this year's slate of winners as well as past winners, visit www.worldfantasy.org/awards.