Sci-fi awards: Excluded works spark talk of Chinese censorship

Works involving Chinese history among four disqualified; writers say no Official reason given

- Lim Min Zhang

BEIJING A recent revelation that four science fiction and fantasy works and writers have been declared ineligible for the prestigious literary Hugo Awards has raised concerns over censorship by the Chinese authorities.

The international literary community has been up in arms over the unexplained disqualifications, revealed on Jan 20, which include works involving Chinese history by two authors who were born in China and now reside overseas.

The Hugo Awards in 2023 were co-administered by members of the Chinese scifi industry and were part of the World Science Fiction Convention, or Worldcon, which was held in Chengdu, Sichuan province, in October.

Chinese-American author R. F.Kuang's book, Babel: Or The Necessity Of Violence, was one of the four nominees in four categories to be marked "not eligible" when delayed full voting results for the Hugo were released online.

Babel was tipped to win Best Novel, given that it had topped bestseller lists and already bagged the United States-based Nebula and Locus awards - two other top sci-fi and fantasy literary accolades - earlier in 2023. Babel received the third-highest number of nominations in the 15-title longlist.

The other works and authors excluded were Chinese-Canadian YouTuber and writer Xiran Jay Zhao, who was longlisted for the Astounding Award given to new writers; an episode of The Sandman TV series by celebrated author Neil Gaiman for Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form); and Paul Weimer in the Best Fan Writer category.

All four writers have made public statements, saying they have not received official reasons for their exclusion. Kuang wrote that "no reason for Babel's ineligibility was given to me or my team".