Listen to this episode on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you find bookish podcasts.
This week’s podcast episode is a reading of this post from all the way back in January of 2019. I thought it seemed relevant now in this moment of increasing awareness and action surrounding the civil rights and social justice movements. And particularly in light of the recent… some might say controversies of this year’s Hugo Awards ceremony.
N. K. Jemisin, one of the authors I discuss in the essay, won the Hugo for best novel three years in a row, starting in 2016, for the books in her Broken Earth Trilogy. And I feel I shouldn’t even have to say this, but they were more than deserving of the honor. These books are phenomenal.
Yet, there were those who claimed that these particular award wins were politically motivated, that Jemisin only won because she is a Black woman and the Hugos were trying to be PC.
This year’s Hugo winners and nominees, in a pleasant surprise, were a very diverse group. All the nominees for best novel were women, and an unprecedented number of authors of color and LGBTQ authors were nominated for and won awards.
Yet the ceremony itself proved that, while the Hugos are supposed to celebrate the best of a genre that is all about looking toward the future, the science fiction establishment is in many ways stuck in the past.
Listen to new episodes of the Rhonda With A Book podcast every Tuesday and get exclusive bonus content through Patreon. Thanks for listening and happy reading!
Rhonda With A Book 