The shortlist was announced by journalist and BBC presenter Samira Ahmed as part of her keynote address to the festival.
Samira was joined on stage by Sir Arthur’s original Remington typewriter, honouring his memory as an alum of King’s where he studied physics and mathematics.
Celebrating its 40th anniversary year, the shortlist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award science fiction book of the year was announced as:
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman (Michael Joseph)
The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami (Bloomsbury Circus)
Luminous by Silvia Park (Magpie)
There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm (Del Rey)
When There Are Wolves Again by E.J. Swift (Arcadia)
The Salt Oracle by Lorraine Wilson (Solaris)
In a record-breaking year for submissions, the judges received a total of 132 books from 52 eligible UK publishing imprints and independent authors.
Award Director Tom Hunter said:
“Sir Arthur was always passionate that the award’s definition of science fiction be as diverse and open as possible, and I believe he would have both applauded the record levels of new SF being published today and the formidable challenge this created for our judging panel.
“More than anything else Sir Arthur always wanted to be remembered as a writer, and I am delighted that we have been able to partner with the Digital Futures Institute to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the award as part of their festival celebrating storytelling and future thinking.”
This year’s award winner will be announced on Wednesday 12th August 2026.
The winner will receive a trophy in the form of a commemorative engraved bookend and prize money to the value of £2026.00; a tradition that sees the annual prize money rise incrementally by year from the year 2001 in memory of Sir Arthur C. Clarke.
The judging panel for the Arthur C. Clarke Award 2026 are:
Eliza Claudia Filimon and Antony Jones for the British Science Fiction Association.
Tiffani Angus and John Coxon for the Science Fiction Foundation.
Esther MacCallum-Stewart for the SCI-FI-LONDON film festival.
Dr Andrew M. Butler represented the Arthur C. Clarke Award directors in a non-voting role as the Chair of the Judges.
The annual award is presented for the best science fiction novel of the year, and selected from a list of novels whose UK first edition was published in the previous calendar year.
The award was originally established by a generous grant from Sir Arthur C. Clarke with the aim of promoting science fiction in the United Kingdom, and is currently administered by the Serendip Foundation, a voluntary organisation created to oversee the on-going delivery and development of the award.
