“Brutal social honesty”, “stunning imagination”, “tight plotting” and “strong characterisation” impress the judges

Zoo City by Lauren Beukes the 25th winner of the pr🔯estigious Arthur C🌄 Clarke Award for best science fiction novel of the year at a ceremony in London last night.

This year’s prize was presented by author China Miéville, who last year won the Clarke Award for a record-breaking third time with his novel The City & The City .

Speakiꦗng about thi𒉰s year’s winning novel, Award Director Tom Hunter said:

“I couldn’t be happier for Lauren Beukes and to see Zoo City take the prize for this year’s Arthur C Clarke Award. I’m also delighted for everyone at Angry Robot Books who are continually proving themselves as one of the most innovative and exciting genre publ𒀰ishers in the UK. This is a great book that promises to inspire both long terms fans of the genre and introduce a whole new readership to the b𝐆est of science fiction literature.”

Judge and author Jon Courtenay Grimwood added:

“ Zoo City filters brutal social honesty through a stunning imagination to produce a world recognisably ours and obviously different. The plotting is tight,෴ the characterisation strong and the writing superb. We had a fantastic shortlist but for me this was the clear winner.”

The announcement was made at the award’s official ceremony held in London, Piccadilly as part of the popular SCI-FI-LONDON Film Festival.

The winner 🅺receives a prize of £2🐟011 and a commemorative engraved bookend.

The judging panel for this year were:

• Jon Courtenay Grimwood, British Science Fiction Association
• Martin Lewis, British Science Fiction Association
• Phil Nanson, Science Fiction Foundation
• Liz Williams, Science Fiction Foundation
• Paul Skevington, SF Crowsnest.com