HONG KONG — Organizers of the Hugo Awards, one of science fiction’s most prestigious literary awards, shortlisted several authors last year, citing concerns that their works and public comments could insult China. The removal from the list was revealed in a leaked email.
Information released by award organizers last month revealed why writers such as Neil Gaiman, RF Quan, Sheeran Jay Zhao, and Paul Weimer were chosen as finalists despite receiving enough votes. Questions had been raised about whether he had been deemed ineligible. Emails released this week revealed that some writers were concerned about how they would be viewed in China, where the Hugo Awards were held for the first time last year.
Dave McCarty, chairman of the 2023 awards jury, said: “As this event takes place in China and the ‘laws’ under which we operate are different, we will emphasize anything of a politically sensitive nature in the work. “We need to do so,” he wrote in an email dated June 5. .
Works that focus on China, Taiwan, Tibet or other sensitive issues “need to be highlighted so that we can determine whether they are safe to put on the ballot,” he added.
McCarty, who stepped down from his role with the award last month, did not respond to requests for comment. Organizers of the 2024 Hugo Awards in Glasgow said in a statement on Thursday that they were taking steps “to ensure transparency and redress a serious loss of trust in the organization of the awards”.
Last year’s Hugo Awards, which unlike most literary awards are run by fans, were held in the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu in October during the 81st World Science Fiction Convention, known as Worldcon. A number of science fiction and fantasy writers have signed an open letter protesting the site, which was chosen by the convention’s voting members, and in which they state that the Uyghurs and most other cited allegations of mistreatment of Muslim minorities.
The email was first reported by science fiction authors and journalists Chris M. Barclay and Jason Sanford. Sci-fi news site File 770 and Sanford’s Patreon account show award organizers detailing “negative Chinese elements” in the author’s published works, book reviews, and social media history.
Some books, such as Mr Quan’s Babel, which won the 2023 British Book Award for Fiction, appear to have been excluded simply because they are set in China. Chao’s novel The Iron Widow was flagged as a “reimagining of the rise of China’s Empress Wu Zetian.”
Organizers also flagged comments made by authors, including Mr. Barclay and Mr. Sanford, about the merits of holding the prize in Chengdu and whether they had signed or shared an open letter.
“They went through every blog post of mine and every review with a fine-tooth comb,” Paul Weimer, an American author and three-time disqualified Hugo nominee, told NBC News in a phone interview Friday. told.
Weimer was excluded because he is said to have previously traveled to Tibet, a region of China where the Chinese government has also been accused of abuses.
“The funny thing is, I didn’t even go to Tibet. I was in Nepal. They didn’t get the basic facts about me right,” he said.
Weimer is Display name on X As of Friday, it had been changed to “Paul Weimer: ‘Nepal is not Tibet'”, but said the review went against not only the spirit of the Hugo Awards but also the spirit of science fiction itself.
“Censoring people based on the idea that the government might not like it is completely contrary to what the whole science fiction project is about,” he said.
The email was released by award organizer Diane Lacey, who wrote part of the email and said in an attached apology that in retrospect she probably should have resigned.
Lacey was asked to scrutinize candidates for works that focused on China, Taiwan, Tibet, or other themes that might be of concern within China, which he shamefully did. did not respond to requests for comment.
“I’m not all that naive about the Chinese political system, but I wish that had happened instead of the Hugo family completely falling apart and going up in flames.”