2026 Locus Awards Weekend, May 29-31 - Locus (original) (raw)

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Join us this May in Berkeley CA to celebrate the finest in science fiction, fantasy, and horror at the Locus Awards!

Locus is thrilled to announce that three of the field’s fabulously talented and award-winning authors, Tananarive Due, Stephen Graham Jones, and Nnedi Okorafor, will be headlining the 2026 Locus Awards as Guests of Honor this May. Bestselling novelists Due (The Reformatory), Jones (The Buffalo Hunter Hunter), and Okorafor (Death of the Author) will grace the stage in Berkeley, California, on May 30, 2026, as we celebrate the science fiction, fantasy, and horror works and creators of the last year. Congratulations to all of the Locus Awards top ten finalists !

For the first time, this year’s ceremony will be held in partnership with the Bay Area Book Festival, a centerpiece event for the Bay Area celebrating the literary arts, under the festival’s 2026 theme “Writing the Future.” The collaboration will create an exciting weekend of events and conversation for all readers, with more guests and full programming still to be announced.

Events will take place in downtown Berkeley across several venues. The 2026 Locus Awards will be held on Saturday, May 30, at the historic Hotel Shattuck. Readers, authors, and industry experts will be welcomed to join an afternoon of programming celebrating genre fiction, with panels on craft and publishing, kaffeeklatsches, books for sale, and more. In the evening, ticketed attendees will enjoy a welcome reception with swag, followed by the Locus Awards banquet and capped with the awards presentation.

All of this takes place during the 12th annual Bay Area Book Festival, held Saturday, May 30, and Sunday, May 31, presenting more than 120 first-rate live conversations with 200 acclaimed and emerging authors across multiple stages, covering genres including science fiction, speculative fiction, horror, literary fiction, fantasy, romantasy, romance, thriller, and queer literature. The festival also features a lively outdoor fair known as the Bookworm Block Party, showcasing 150 literary exhibitors, with the indoor and outdoor components uniting readers, writers, and changemakers across a full weekend of events. 2026 speakers announced to date include Julian Brave Noisecat, Elaine Hsieh Chou, Emily St. James, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, and Annalee Newitz. The Bay Area Book Festival is visited by around 25,000 people, and 95% of the programming is free and open to the public.

“We’re thrilled to partner with the Locus Awards this year during the Bay Area Book Festival weekend,” said J.K. Fowler, Executive Director of the Bay Area Book Festival. “Their enduring commitment to honoring visionary voices across speculative genres mirrors our own dedication to celebrating the breadth and brilliance of contemporary literature. It’s an honor to bring our communities together in recognition of such transformative work.”

Various scenes from the Bay Area Book Festival

About our 2026 Locus Awards Guests of Honor

Nnedi Okorafor

Nnedi Okorafor is the global leader of Africanfuturism, a New York Times bestselling author, and an international literary superstar. She writes speculative fiction for adults, young adults, and children. Her recent adult novel, Death of the Author—which George R.R. Martin calls “her best work yet”—explores fame, the Nigerian Diaspora, disability, the writer’s life, AI, and robots. Her all-ages graphic novel called The Space Cat was published in 2025, as well. And the final installment of her She Who Knows trilogy, The Daughter Who Remains, came out in February 2026. Among her many acclaimed works are the groundbreaking Binti trilogy, the harrowing Who Fears Death, and the beloved Nsibidi Scripts series, all of which have been optioned for the screen. Nnedi is also the author of Marvel’s Black Panther: Long Live the King, Shuri, and Wakanda Forever. One of the most-lauded writers in modern science fiction and fantasy, her honors include the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature, Nebula, World Fantasy, Locus, Eisner, and multiple Hugo and Lodestar Awards. Born in the United States to Nigerian/Igbo immigrant parents, Okorafor draws deeply from African cultures to create captivating worlds, unforgettable characters, and powerful, evocative stories. She holds a PhD in Literature and two master’s degrees in journalism and literature.

Stephen Graham Jones

Stephen Graham Jones is the New York Times bestselling author of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, The Only Good Indians, I Was a Teenage Slasher, and My Heart Is a Chainsaw, which won the Locus Award for Best Horror Novel in 2022. He has been an NEA fellowship recipient and a recipient of several awards including the Ray Bradbury Award from the Los Angeles Times, the Bram Stoker Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, the Jesse Jones Award for Best Work of Fiction from the Texas Institute of Letters, the Independent Publishers Award for Multicultural Fiction, and the Alex Award from American Library Association. He is the Ivena Baldwin Professor of English at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Tananarive Due, photo by Eli Roth

Tananarive Due is an award-winning author who teaches Black Horror and Afrofuturism at UCLA. A leading voice in Due has won an American Book Award, an NAACP Image Award, and a British Fantasy Award, and her writing has been included in best-of-the-year anthologies. Her books include The Reformatory (winner of a LA Times Book Prize, Chautauqua Prize, Bram Stoker Award, Shirley Jackson Award, World Fantasy Award, and a NYT Notable Book), The Wishing Pool and Other Stories, Ghost Summer: Stories, My Soul to Keep, and The Good House. She and her late mother, civil rights activist Patricia Stephens Due, co-authored Freedom in the Family: A Mother-Daughter Memoir of the Fight for Civil Rights. She and her husband, author Steven Barnes, live with their son, Jason.

More speakers and guests will be announced in the run-up to the event.

2026 Locus Awards Schedule & Location

Hotel Shattuck: $239/night Fri. & Sat.

2086 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA 94704 | Phone: (510) 845-7300 | info@hotelshattuckplaza.com | BOOKING LINK

WEDNESDAY – FRIDAY, May 27-29: Warm up for the main event with a series of online readings starting Wednesday, May 27. Each evening, there will be several readers including Locus Awards finalists, plus a live author Q&A. Join us online for your favorite authors reading from their shortlisted works! Plus a live kickoff salon and mixer on Friday night!

SATURDAY, May 30: Enjoy a series of author panels in the afternoon at the Hotel Shattuck in Berkeley, California — also broadcast online for our virtual attendees. Panels will be free to attend, but paying members will get priority seating. Following programming, a catered reception for ticketed members to mix and mingle with our local SFF folks, followed by the Locus Awards banquet and ceremony. The event will be streamed live for those who can’t make it in person, and those in the room will have a chance to pick up their swag bag full of books as well as browse from our bookseller’s table and other exclusive merch.

SUNDAY, May 31: Locus will have a table at the Bookworm Block Party! We hope to see you there.

LOCUS AWARDS SCHEDULE

(subject to change)

Wednesday, May 27

4:00 p.m. PDT – Online Finalist Reading: Hildur Knútsdóttir, Eden Royce

5:00 p.m. PDT – Online Finalist Reading: Tobias Buckell, Somto Ihezue

6:00 p.m. PDT – Online Finalist Reading: Thomas Ha, Fran Wilde

Thursday, May 28

4:00 p.m. PDT – Online Finalist Reading: Henry Lien, Kelly Robson

5:00 p.m. PDT – Online Finalist Reading: Isabel J. Kim, Christopher Caldwell

6:00 p.m. PDT – Online Finalist Reading: Terese Mason Pierre, Carrie Vaughn

Friday, May 29

5:30 –7:00 p.m. PDT – Reading with Charlie Jane Anders, Tananarive Due, Stephen Graham Jones, and Maggie Tokuda-Hall, online and in-person

Saturday, May 30 – Doors open 12:00 p.m. PDT at the Hotel Shattuck

12:00-1:00 p.m. PDT – Doors open! Check in, grab a coffee and a bagel from a Boichik Bagel platter_,_ and check out our featured artist’s work plus dealer and community tables with books and merch for sale.

1:00-2:00 p.m. PDT Panel – “Neither Skynet, nor HAL, nor the Culture: Writing Science Fiction in Today’s AI Reality”: Gideon Lichfield (m), Annalee Newitz, & Nnedi Okorafor

2:20-3:20 p.m. PDT Panel – “Transformations & Mutations: Catharsis and the Hopeful Work of Dark Fiction”: Audrey T. Willams (m), Tananarive Due, Trang Thanh Tran, Julie C. Day, & Thomas Ha

3:40-4:40 p.m. PDT Panel – “Exploring Point of View: from Nuts and Bolts to the Esoteric”_:_ Sarah Gailey (m), Stephen Graham Jones, Isaac Fellman, Somto Ihezue, & Susanna Kwan

3:40-4:40 p.m. PDT Panel – Art Chat in the Loungewith Featured Local Artist Alyssa Winans & Locus Art Director Francesca Myman

5:00 – 6:30 p.m. PDT Reception catered by ZINO with delish Mediterranean cuisine, followed by…

LOCUS AWARDS CEREMONY with Emcees Sarah Gailey & Maggie Tokuda-Hall

Sunday, May 31

11:00-5:00 p.m. Bay Area Book Festival Bookworm Block Party!

Come find us at our vendor tent!

Important information

Safety and conduct: We ask members to test for COVID if possible prior to attending for the safety of the community. Our Code of Conduct is available here, and we encourage anyone to attend—including people of color, women, people with disabilities, older people, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. We welcome people of any gender identity or expression, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, age, size, nationality, religion, culture, education level, and self-identification.

Dress code: There is no dress code for the Locus Awards. Wear whatever makes you happy! From geek chic to dressy casual to full red carpet regalia, we like it all.

Sponsor the Awards: Interested in joining the celebration? We have sponsorship and advertising packages available. Just reach out to us here.

Membership Options

We will have in-person and virtual membership options for this year’s awards, with a discount for those who sign up early. Membership rates will go up again after May 1 – BUY NOW!

Attending Membership is $105 and gives you priority access to the in-person panels on Saturday, May 30; ensures your seat at the Locus Awards banquet and ceremony that evening; and gives you access to a special guest book reading and salon held the evening of May 29. Plus all the virtual readings, exclusive swag and bookbag, a commemorative program, a digital 6-month subscription to Locus (February-August 2026), and more.

Virtual Membership is $35, includes access to the online readings, panels, and the awards ceremony, and helps support the Locus Awards.

The $350 Friend of Locus membership supports us as a top-tier donor. You will be thanked in our event program, you can attend all digital and in-person events, plus receive the Locus Awards 2026 T-shirt, an invitation to a VIP reception on May 29, a special backer gift, and our eternal thanks. (Note: you don’t have to attend in person to support at this level.)

We also have a sliding-scale online-only membership for those who would otherwise be unable to attend. This entitles you to attend all Locus Awards online events this year, without the program, or digital Locus issues the regular ticket provides. Please email us for more information.

We can’t wait to see you!

Our partner in literary celebration, the Bay Area Book Festival

The Bay Area Book Festival, now in its 12th year, is a cultural celebration and critical gathering space where activists, authors, and audiences can unite around today’s most urgent issues and uplift marginalized voices. The festival fosters an inclusive culture where participants—staff, volunteers, authors, exhibitors, patrons, and attendees—feel empowered to contribute to our collective future.

Liza Groen Trombi, Publisher of Locus Magazine, said “‘Writing the Future’ is a concept Locus has been excited about for more than 50 years, and we’re so pleased that our two Bay Area groups can come together to create a literary celebration for readers of science fiction, fantasy, and horror, and book lovers of all genres. And we can’t wait to welcome Stephen Graham Jones and Tananarive Due — two truly talented voices in the field — to the Locus Awards stage as our guests of honor.”

Our endless gratitude to all of our donors and to present and past sponsors.

Introducing Locus Awards 2026 Sponsors:

The Henderson Family Foundation

The Locus Science Fiction Foundation is pleased to announce The Henderson Family Foundation a s a Locus Awards and LSFF sponsor.

Cal Henderson is the co-founder and was the Chief Technology Officer of Slack. The day-to-day work of Locus Magazine is currently coordinated exclusively through our very busy Slack account, so we are grateful for the venue! Cal oversaw Slack’s world-class engineering team and set the technical vision for the company.

In 2019, he was named a Fortune 40 Under 40 honoree and recognized by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader.

Previously, Cal built and led the engineering teams at Flickr, through its acquisition by Yahoo. An experienced technology leader and a popular speaker on engineering scalability, he authored the best-selling O’Reilly Media book Building Scalable Websites. Cal was also a pioneer in the use of web APIs, and created the basis for OAuth and oEmbed, now used by YouTube, Twitter and many others.

Locus SF Foundation board president Liza Groen Trombi says, “Newmark’s support of the Locus Awards is crucial to our continued work in celebrating quality literature, amplifying new and diverse voices, and increasing interest in speculative fiction throughout the world.”

craig newmark philanthropies

The Locus Science Fiction Foundation is pleased to announce Craig Newmark Philanthropies a s a Locus Awards sponsor.

Craig Newmark Philanthropies is an organization started by craigslist founder Craig Newmark, who aims to “support and connect people and drive broad civic engagement, working to advance grassroots organizations that are effective and getting stuff done.”

Started in 1971, the Locus Awards have served as a lodestone event for a growing community of new and experienced writers, readers, fans, artists, publishing professionals, and other genre supporters. The conference consists of author readings, writing workshops, panels on literary and industry topics, and the centerpiece, the presentation of the prestigious Locus Awards. Unlike most other awards in the field, the Locus Awards has an open voting system and allows write-in votes on the ballots. This open voting process allows democratic involvement in honoring the field’s top creators and supporters. The awards include a category to celebrate debut authors, in keeping with the Locus Science Fiction Foundation’s mission to promote new voices in genre works. The LSFF also confers an award for community development upon organizations or individuals who boost marginalized voices or contribute to the genre community in ways that might otherwise go unrecognized.