Thompson wins 2019 Arthur C Clarke Award for ‘Rosewater’

Tade Thompson’s Rosewater (Orbit) has won the 2019 Arthur C Clarke award for science fiction, reports the Guardian.

Set in a future Africa, the events of Rosewater take place in a town of the same name situated on the outskirts of an alien biodome in rural Nigeria. The dome opens once a year and heals all sick people nearby. The novel follows telepathic Kaaro, a government agent with a criminal past who has seen inside the biodome, and who begins to investigate the unusual deaths of other telepathics like him.

Chair of judges Andrew M Butler said: ‘Alien invasion is always a political subject, and Tade Thompson … expertly explores the nature of the alien, global power structures and pervasive technologies with a winning combination of science fictional invention, gritty plotting and sly wit.’

Rosewater was chosen from a shortlist of six, including Ahmed Saadawi’s Frankenstein in Baghdad (Oneworld), Sue Burke’s Semiosis (Voyager), Yoon Ha Lee’s Revenant Gun (Solaris), Simon Stålenhag’s The Electric State (S&S) and Aliya Whiteley’s The Loosening Skin (Unsung Stories).

Thompson wins £2019 (A$3580)—the prize money is adjusted annually to match the year.

The Arthur C Clarke Award is presented annually for the best science fiction novel published in the UK in the previous calendar year.

Category: Awards International news