The Ursula K. Le Guin Foundation announced nine finalists for the 2026 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction on June 29, per lithub.com.
The annual $25,000 prize honours works that reflect the late writer’s literary, moral and aesthetic ideals.
The shortlist was selected by the Foundation following a public voting process. The prize is awarded to authors described as “realists of a larger reality, who can imagine real grounds for hope and see alternatives to how we live now”.
The 2026 finalists are Pip Adam for Audition (Coffee House Press), William Alexander for Sunward (Saga Press), Christopher Caldwell for Call and Response (Neon Hemlock), Bora Chung for Midnight Timetable, translated by Anton Hur (Algonquin), Hiron Ennes for The Works of Vermin (Tor Books), Isaac Fellman for Notes from a Regicide (Tor Books), Tashan Mehta for Mad Sisters of Esi (DAW Books), Premee Mohamed for One Message Remains (Psychopomp), and Claire North for Slow Gods (Orbit).
A five-member judging panel will select the winner. The panel consists of authors Nicola Griffith, Mat Johnson, Fonda Lee, Darcie Little Badger and Peter Rock.
The winner will be announced on October 21, the birthday of Ursula K. Le Guin.
Established in 2022, the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction recognises book-length works of imaginative fiction. It is one of the most significant awards in speculative literature, offering a $25,000 prize to a single winner each year.