On November 16, the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) announced that N. K. Jemisin has been named the 42nd recipient of the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award.
We're big fans of Jemisin here. We count her Broken Earth trilogy, beginning with The Fifth Season, among our favorites.
SFWA President Kate Ristau had this to say about Jemisin and her work:
Her skill in world-building shifted the way many of us view setting. She truly brings her worlds to life. In Jemisin’s work, setting is a construct and a character that creates tension, influences character, and compels the plots forward. To put it simply, she is a master of the craft.
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We don’t write in a vacuum. We write in a world of complexity and trauma. Jemisin helps us hold a mirror up to our darkest fears and our deepest desires. We want to live in a better world, but if we don’t, what stories will we tell? How will we confront history and our possible futures with authenticity and possibility? Jemisin shows us that storytelling is not just an escape—it’s a powerful tool for engagement in our own reality. Through her work, she reminds us that speculative fiction can be both a space for resistance and a landscape for transformation.
Previous Grand Masters include such SFF heavyweights as Ray Bradbury, Ursula K. Le Guin, Gene Wolfe, and Lois McMaster Bujold.
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